"The Vixen"
Author: Robert Brown
Disclaimer: This story uses characters created and copyrighted by Sucker
Punch, Inc. (except where noted, in which case they were created
and copyrighted by me or by another and I have permission to use
them). The author hereby gives permission for this story to be
downloaded and/or printed at 1 copy per user as long as (1) no
changes to the story are made without my express written(not
e-mailed) permission and (2) no attempt is made to profit from
this story. If either or both rules are violated, it will be
considered a violation of copyright law.
Chapter 7: A Dance of Death
It was hard for Bentley to find the gang a direct flight to India from
Haiti, but he was able to pull it off by calling in a number of favors from
his Thiefnet allies. To tell the truth, he would've been more comfortable
going back to their headquarters in France first to gather some more supplies
and plan things out, but Sly had been insistent on heading straight there.
While Carmelita was in danger, Sly would be thinking more with his heart than
his head.
Still, once they'd actually made it to Haiti, Bentley had seen the
method to Sly's seeming madness. Their old safehouse, the place they'd
planned the initial assault on Rajan's "ancestral palace," was in remarkably
good condition. Sure there was some dust here and there, but not really any
more than they dealt with at home. In short order, everything was up and
running smoothly.
Too smoothly in fact. "You guys do know she knows we're here, right?"
Bentley asked, wheeling his chair over by the table.
"I expect nothing less Bentley," Sly said, leaning back in his chair as
he leafed through the Thievius Racoonus. "But I do think you're worrying
about this too much. She won't do anything to us here; it would ruin her
game. And to the Vixen, it's all about the Game."
Bentley flinched slightly at the emphasis Sly placed on the word "Game,"
but Murray just pounded his fist into his palm. "I hope I get to see some
action this time," he said. "'The Murray' has a lot of frustration to 'talk'
out with someone."
"'Talk' out?" Bentley asked, raising an eyebrow.
"That's right, talk out," Murray confirmed. Then a sadistic smile
crossed his face. "Unfortunately for everyone here, I talk with my fists of
flame."
Bentley shook his head and started to wheel over to the projector he'd
set up but stopped when he saw Sly heading for the exit. "And where are you
going?" he asked archly.
"The Vixen left the rose for a reason," Sly said, adjusting the cap on
his head. "It's obvious she's waiting for me in Rajan's ballroom, and I'm not
about to keep her waiting this time."
Bentley sighed but could not refute Sly's logic. "Be careful, all
right? Like you said, for her it's all about the Game. After bringing us
this far, I can't see her making it that easy on you."
"I may be many things Bentley, but I'm no fool." Sly tipped his hat to
his friends and then slunk out of the safehouse. The first thing he noticed
was that the drawbridge leading into the palace was up. "Hmm, looks like I'm
not as welcome here as I was in Haiti," he thought, creeping downriver to
where he knew he could access the palace another way.
Just as there had been the first time he was here, three very sharp and
pointy rocks stretched across the river that served as the palace's moat right
near where the river became a waterfall. It was a simple matter for him to
use his family's Ninja Spire Jump to get across, almost too much of a simple
matter. She had to know that he'd enter the palace like this, so it had to be
a trap. Maybe....
Sly shuddered as he remembered the moss that had been draped in specific
locations along the branches back in Haiti. "She wouldn't go that far, would
she?" he asked himself. When he considered what would happen if she had, he
decided it was better if he didn't take any chances. Before he jumped, he
carefully scraped the jagged rocks with his cane, making sure none of them
were slippery in any way.
Fortunately for him, they weren't. He made it across the trio of rocks
safely and landed softly on the ledge, using his reflexes to sneak along the
ledge to the wooden bridge. But he'd been so concerned in checking the rocks
that he'd neglected to check the bridge. As soon as he stepped on the bridge,
his right foot broke through the slats and the rest of him nearly followed.
If he hadn't hooked his cane on the bridge's railing, he would've been going
for a nice long plunge.
"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" he scolded himself after he'd gotten free,
adding in a few smacks to his own head with his cane for good measure. The
stars that exploded in his vision let him know that this was an even more
stupid idea, to his chagrin.
When his vision cleared, he jumped across the rest of the bridge and
hung a left. He made his way up a wide staircase and into the palace's main
courtyard. The fountain there, a representation of Rajan if he remembered
correctly, had been replaced by a statue of the Vixen smirking down at him
with her tail wrapped around her waist and hips. "Well, she's a lot easier on
the eyes," he muttered, running toward the palace.
He ran across the bridge and started into a covered hallway, but he
stopped. He knew this hallway would bring him near the firepit from which he
could access a series of staircases that led to the main door of the ballroom,
but something was warning him. Once he entered this hallway, there were way
too many places for the Vixen to spring a trap on him. No, he would get there
another way.
The last time Sly was here, he did his best to avoid as many guards as
he could. Well, perhaps avoid wasn't the right word; stealthily snuck up on
sounded much better. All the better to pick their pockets, he reasoned. But
with Rajan out of commission, last Sly heard, the tiger was a carpet salesman,
all his guards had left to find other "gainful" employment. So the palace was
deserted, and Sly knew of a different and much more direct way he could access
the ballroom, one that the Vixen might not have expected him to take.
Sly stepped back from the hallway and ran alongside a nearby building.
He jumped on a covered basket, using it to vault up to a canopy, and from the
to the roof of the building. A vine ran from the roof to a balcony that
looked over the rest of the palace and Sly easily Rail Walked across it. From
there, it was an easy walk up a flight of stairs to the front doors. Sly
knocked on the doors with his cane.
The eyeslat in the left door opened and Sly could see a very familiar
ice blue mask with purple eyes through it. "May I help you, 'Sir?'" she
asked in a very haughty voice.
Sly scowled at the tone of her voice, eerily reminiscent of the goon who
had guarded the door once before. "You know why I'm here," he said,
brandishing his cane. "Now let me in and let Carmelita go!"
"Do you got a tux?" she asked.
Sly slammed his cane against the door, but the Vixen didn't even flinch.
"I don't even remember what I did with that monkey suit!"
"Why don't you head back to your safehouse?" the Vixen purred in her
usual voice, dropping the affected accent. "I'm sure your friends have found
the little surprises I left for you. I do so hope you'll find them...
intriguing. Au revoir, Ringtail."
"Wait!" Sly yelled, trying to shove his cane into the open slat. But
the Vixen was too quick and closed it before he had even moved, making Sly
slam his cane off the wood. He could hear the Vixen's mocking laughter as she
walked away from the door.
Sly held his cane between his hands like he was going to swing at that
door over and over, but he knew from experience that it would be fruitless.
He felt like yelling, screaming, demanding her to come out and face him, but
he refused to give her the satisfaction. Turning his back on the door, fairly
sure she was somehow still watching him, he methodically walked back down the
stairs.
When he stepped on the balcony he broke into a sprint, jumping over the
edge and landing in front of the bridge. Now out of sight of the Vixen, or so
he hoped, he freely vented his anger on the bags of now rotting fruit,
splattering them against the walls of the buildings they sat against. He knew
it had no purpose to it, but it sure made him feel better. After he had
obliterated every bag in sight, he stomped across the bridge and didn't stop
until he reached the drawbridge.
He was going to leave the same way he came in, but something the Vixen
had told him came to mind. "She left surprises for us?" Sly said aloud,
looking at the drawbridge. "Something tells me I might need their help.
Might as well open this up so they can get in with me."
Instead of veering left, Sly veered right. He ran up a staircase that
led to the top of the palace's wall and looked around. The winch that
controlled the drawbridge was in the same place it had been, but it looked
unlocked. Sly approached it cautiously, checking every step with his cane
before putting his foot down. But nothing was there; nothing could even be
found on the winch itself. "I thought for sure she'd put something here," he
thought, pulling the lever to lower the drawbridge. But there was nothing he
could see, not even when the drawbridge touched down on the opposite bank of
the river moat. However, as he jumped over the wall to land on the drawbridge
he failed to notice the countdown timer that had turned on under the platform
on which the winch rested.
Sly ran across the drawbridge to the tunnel that led to the safehouse
and found Murray waiting for him. "Hey big guy," he said, leaning up against
the wall. "What's going on?"
"You'd better come with me Sly," Murray said in a slightly heavy voice.
"Bentley found some things that you just have to see."
Sly followed Murray inside and wasn't surprised to see Bentley at the
table. What did surprise him were the three packages that sat on the table in
front of Bentley along with a darkly lacquered wooden box. Each package was
wrapped differently; one was wrapped in dark blue, one in olive green, and the
third was bright pink. All of the papers were covered in snowflakes and the
calling card of the Vixen.
Bentley watched Sly's face carefully. For the most part, it appeared
that Sly was taking things rather calmly. But Bentley knew Sly too well; he
could see the very slight widening of Sly's eyes, the one breath he took that
was deeper than normal. He knew that Sly was surprised, shocked even, but he
knew that it was also going to get worse. "You'd better sit down Sly,"
Bentley said, adjusting his glasses.
"I hate when you say things like that," Sly muttered, falling into the
seat across from Bentley. "What are all these things?"
"Well, I would be able to tell you, if I'd been allowed to open them."
Sly's eyebrow quirked up at Bentley's choice of words and Bentley chuckled
dryly. "What don't I just show you what I mean?" he asked.
Sly watched as Bentley opened the lacquered box and pressed a button
inside. Sly nearly fell out of his chair when the Vixen suddenly appeared in
front of him on the table. Or rather, a two-foot tall version. "Take it easy
Sly," Murray said, walking over and helping his friend up. "It's just a holo-
whatzit."
"That's 'hologram' Murray," Bentley enunciated clearly. "And shush now.
I want Sly to hear what she's saying."
"Greetings Sly Cooper," the image of the Vixen said. "Your friends have
already heard my tale as evidenced by the second button being pressed. I
suggest you listen to me carefully because if you need to hear it again, only
one button remains; the box will self-destruct after that message is played.
"But let me get to the point, since by now your time is most assuredly
limited," she continued. "Each of the three packages in front of you holds a
clue that needs to be deciphered in order for you to open the closet that
contains that lovely purple tuxedo of yours. Each clue will provide you with
part of the key, but it will up to you to figure out how they fit together.
And no, it would not be a good idea try to pick the lock. If you place
anything in the keyhole except for the key then the flamethrowers I've rigged
inside the closet will ignite and torch the tux. Then you'll never get inside
the ballroom to where your precious Carmelita waits.
"Don't take too long now," she added with a smirk. "You know how I feel
about being kept waiting. And if I know you like I know I do, you've already
triggered my timer. The LED readout inside the box lets you know how much
longer I'll wait for you before I get bored. And if I get bored, bad things
happen to anyone I consider competition. I'll be seeing you soon Ringtail.
Oh and Bentley? Consider this my permission to open everything up."
Sly swiped his cane angrily at the fading hologram. He'd kept his cool
right up until the end, and he was proud of himself for doing so. When she'd
thrown Carmelita's own parting words to him when he'd paraglided from the
chopper that was supposed to take him to Interpol in his face, however, he'd
lost his cool for a second. "I have got to stop letting her get to me," he
all but snarled.
"Yes, she seems to be particularly good at that, doesn't she?" Bentley
asked drolly. "While you've been venting your frustrations, I've opened up
the packages. They seem to be fairly straightforward, and that's what worries
me."
Sly looked over the opened parcels and his eyes narrowed. Laying on the
pink paper was a large ruby, easily about half Sly's height. On the inside of
the olive green paper was the number "46583271" printed in reddish-orange ink.
Resting on the dark blue paper was part of a charred and splintered timber
bearing part of a steel ring attached to it. "Straightforward is right," Sly
muttered, picking up the ruby. "This isn't like her at all. What's she
playing at now?"
"Maybe they're so easy to decipher because we don't exactly have much
time," Bentley observed. "According to the timer in the box, we're down to
thirty-nine minutes and...thirty-eight seconds."
"So which one do we go after first?" Murray asked, pounding his fist
into his palm. "I wouldn't mind taking my chances against those elephants
right now!"
Sly looked at Murray in a little surprise. While he knew his hippo
friend was far from stupid, he usually relied on Sly or Bentley to decipher
any clues and tell him what to do. That way he could just charge in and bust
things up, his favorite pastime. "Hold on there Murray," Sly said. "Why do
you think you're going to tangle with elephants?"
Murray looked down at Sly, a look on his face that Sly had only seen on
Bentley when he knew something no one else did and was about to gleefully
explain it. It looked so out of place on Murray that Sly nearly didn't
register when he began to speak. "It's really very easy Sly," Murray said
calmly, placing his hands on the table. "We found three wrapped packages and
there are three of us. Not only that, but the wrapping paper used for each
one corresponds to the colors Bentley uses for our holographic markers, so
it's pretty obvious the Vixen means for us to handle whichever one was inside
the one wrapped with our colors.
"Now as for why I know I'm going to deal with elephants," Murray
continued, really getting into this now, "just look at that ruby. You stole
six just like it for Bentley to make that saw I used to cut free the Clockwerk
wings from Rajan's throne. And since you got them from Rajan's prized
elephants, it's obvious that whatever she has planned for me is in that
elephant pen where they were kept. Now, it might not be elephants that I have
to deal with, but odds are it will be.
"I'm not that good with numbers, but I'm pretty sure that code is the
one you had to find to let me and Bentley into Rajan's vault room. You know,
the one where Bentley had to do his hacking thing to get control of the winch?
Whatever's there is for Bentley, I'm just not sure how we'll get him inside
with his wheelchair and all. Hopefully those doors will still be open so he
can just wheel himself in.
"And now on to your package Sly. I wasn't there when Bentley blew up
the bridge to the guest house, but I'll bet the van that the support beams
looked like this. My guess is that something's waiting for you in that guest
house. The only problem will be getting you over there with no bridge. But
you might be able to paraglide there and back. It's a risk we just have to
take. For now though, we all really need to get in place. We won't have time
to go after these separately."
Sly's expression of a little surprise turned into a full fledged, jaw
dropped, eyes wide expression of disbelief. Had he been knocked on the head
and woken up in this strange alternate universe where Murray had somehow
acquired Bentley's brains? Of all the possible explanations Sly could come
up with, that seemed to be the most plausible. Bentley's expression mirrored
Sly's, but was tinged with something else. Jealousy? Anger perhaps?
Whatever it was, Sly couldn't tell for sure, but it was definitely there.
"Well," the turtle began in a stilted, clipped voice, "since you don't need me
to figure all this out, I guess we'd better get going. Just stay in touch and
meet back here at the safehouse when you get your part of the key. Good luck
everyone, something tells me that we're going to need it."
Murray was out the door almost before Bentley had stopped speaking,
lumbering toward the palace as fast as his large frame would allow. He ran
across the drawbridge and down the main street, moving across the bridge with
ease. But when he came to where Sly had begun jumping around to climb to the
ballroom's main doors, he hung a left and walked up a small, wide staircase.
His memory served him well and he was soon standing in front of the
elephant's paddock. He'd heard how the elephants had easily knocked Sly off
their backs and Murray had wanted to try his strength against them since. He
threw open the doors only to dive out of the way as an elephant thundered past
him, its eyes glowing red. "Guys," Murray said into his own binoc-u-com, "we
have a big problem here."
"What's wrong Murray?" Sly asked. "I'm almost in position to try and
paraglide across the chasm."
"Well, you got an easier job than I do Sly. It looks like this elephant
is hopped up on spice, and it's on a rampage."
"Murray, you have to find that elephant and get the key piece off it,"
Sly pleaded. "Without your part, it doesn't matter if we get ours. And
without the key, Carmelita is--"
"No worries Sly," Murray said, his voice hard. "'The Murray' would
never let an innocent citizen suffer at the hands of a criminal." Though it
really wasn't his thing, Murray jumped on a boost basket and used it to grab
onto the edge of a nearby building's roof. It took most of his strength to
hoist himself up on the roof, but he was able to do so in a fairly short
amount of time.
Murray brought his binoc-u-com back to his face and peered through it,
trying to find the spice-maddened elephant. The elephant wasn't really that
hard to find, seeing that it was loudly trumpeting its presence as it barreled
down the narrow streets and alleyways. The damage its large frame was causing
was intense; Murray had to admit that it was potentially even more impressive
than his own Thunder Flop. "It's time this elephant was shown the true
meaning of devastation," he muttered, focusing his binoc-u-com on the key
piece hanging from the elephant's headdress down between its eyes.
While Murray moved to cut off the elephant, Bentley was deep in
concentration with the upper level of Rajan's vault room. The door leading
inside had been open as Murray had hoped, so it was a simple matter for
Bentley to gain access. The first thing he'd seen was the key piece that was
secured in a cage with two electric locks. The second were the two terminals
he'd hacked the last time he was here, both on and humming with power.
"This looks fairly easy," Bentley thought, wheeling over to the terminal
on his left and typing away. The cyber defenses were laughably simple, but
there were quite a lot of them. The only reason it took him three minutes to
bypass it was because of the sheer number of them. He inserted his hacking
code into the waiting slot and was gratified to hear the first lock disengage.
"And now for the second one," he said, wheeling over to the other
terminal and doing the same thing. The defensive scheme was exactly the same
as the first terminal and he passed through it just as easily. But about
two minutes in, he heard a clicking sound. He quickly finished his hacking,
unlocking the second lock in about the same time he had unlocked the first.
But as he turned around to collect the key, he noticed that the first lock had
re-engaged.
"This is bad," he realized, turning around to watch the terminal he had
just hacked. It was then that he noticed a countdown timer in the corner of
the screen. "She didn't," he muttered, fixing his gaze on the timer until it
hit triple zero. As soon as it did, the second lock also re-engaged and he
was right back where he'd started.
"Why that little...." he growled. "So much for this being simple." He
knew now just how crafty the Vixen was. As simple as it was to hack each
terminal, hacking the second before the first restored itself was going to be
nearly impossible. Bentley knew that he was expected to just try to hack into
the terminals madly, hoping that he could get through both somehow. But the
timing was too precise; it was close enough to give him enough hope to attempt
it, but he would never get closer than five seconds from his goal. "There has
to be another way. I just have to find it."
As Bentley paused and cogitated on the issue, Sly had managed to land
on the ground next to the guest house. He'd had a few inches to spare, more
than enough for a thief like him. The way back would be a bit more difficult,
but the spires above the minarets should give him enough height to complete
his return trip.
He walked inside the front door, a little surprised to find the lights
inside the building on. He looked around, wondering which of the five rooms
his key piece would be in. Of all the doors he could see, only the one that
led to room 103 was ajar, the room that had been Rajan's own. "Well, that
only makes sense," he said, pushing open the door fully and walking inside.
The room looked like a tornado had touched down, a testament to just how
much Sly had wrecked it while looking for the dance shoes of the tuxedo he had
"borrowed" the last time he was in India. Sly couldn't help but smile as he
remembered just how much fun it had been to wreck Rajan's things, and how much
more fun it would be to do it again.
When he climbed the stairs leading to Rajan's bed, he noticed that
something was terribly out of place. In sharp contrast to the rest of the
room, the bed was impeccably made. Not even one tassel on the expensive
silken pillows was out of place. Sly couldn't help but smirk; either his part
of the key was hidden in that bed, or it was a rather obvious trap. It could
even be both, but there was only one way to know for sure.
Sly hooked the tip of his cane on the edge of the purple bedcover and
slowly ulled it back, ready for anything to happen. But nothing happened save
for a white sheet to be revealed. Shrugging, Sly hooked the tip of that and
pulled it back only to find a similar green sheet underneath it. Repeating
the motions again allowed a red sheet to be seen.
After he had revealed both a black and a yellow sheet, Sly was getting
annoyed. If he was dealing with anyone but the Vixen, he probably would've
just ripped the rest of the sheets off the bed. But that was probably the one
thing that would trigger the Vixen's trap. So he continued to peel away the
layers through brown, orange, dark blue, light blue with the Vixen on it....
Sly stopped himself from going any further, and just in time too. His
cane was already hooked onto the top of that sheet preparing to remove it as
well by the time his brain had registered that this sheet was different. The
image of the Vixen looked to be screened directly into the sheet's fabric in
all its impressive detail.
She still wore her mask, and her indigo painted lips were set in that
infuriating yet alluring smirk, but that was the only thing he recognized on
her. Instead of wearing her usual skintight ice blue bodysuit with purple
boots, gloves, and belt, this image showed her in nothing but a translucent
ice blue teddy that left her barely decent, covering only the bare minimum
necessary between her shoulders and her thighs. And Sly found that if he
stared hard enough, he could just make out her....
Sly forced his gaze away, feeling a blush rising in his cheeks and his
blood heating in his veins. Despite everything she had done to him,
everything she was doing to him, he could not escape the fact that she was an
extremely attractive woman who excited him as much as she repulsed him. And
she knew it too. That's what made it even more intolerable.
He closed his eyes to gather his courage and looked at the sheet again.
This time he noticed some writing next to the image's head and forced himself
to look at that instead of where his eyes kept trying to go. "'I hope you had
fun undressing the bed,'" he read silently, "'I just wish it was me you were
undressing. Maybe next time we meet. For now, take your part of the key.
I'll be seeing you soon, Ringtail.'" The short note was signed with on of the
Vixen's calling cards and an indigo imprint of her lips.
Sly did his best to ignore the flash of heat that ran through his body
at the thought of undressing the Vixen. "I'm here to save Carmelita," he
reminded himself. That was all it took to make the fire in his blood turn to
ice and get himself refocused on his goal.
He searched the sheet in a detached and formal manner, no longer
allowing himself to be affected by the Vixen's image. Laying in one on the
image's hands was what looked to be the shaft of a key. Sly used his cane to
pull the key piece off the bed and into his hand, his body tensed and ready to
bolt from the room at the first sign of a trap. But once again, nothing
happened. "She's really got me all fouled up," Sly muttered, kicking the edge
of the bed.
The kick didn't move the bed much, but it was enough to dislodge a
pressure sensitive button laying beneath the rest of the sheets. A button
that, now that it was on the floor, began beeping in a very urgent manner.
"Oh boy!" Sly exclaimed, diving down to the main floor and sprinting from the
room. He exited the room just as the bed blew up, spewing tons of confetti
everywhere. Sly poked his head back into the room just in time for a long and
curly strip of paper to land across his nose. Rolling his eyes, he strode
out of the building, his piece of the key held tightly in his hand.
As Sly climbed the outside of the guest house in preparation of making
his return trip to the guest house, Bentley looked up from his thoughts and
glared at the two terminals before him. "She couldn't have made it that
simple," he thought suddenly. He wheeled himself back in front of the first
terminal and hacked his way through it, taking slightly less than three
minutes this time. But before he moved to the next terminal, he simply
unplugged the cable that led from the first terminal to the locked cage. The
countdown on the terminal continued unabated, but when it reached triple zero
the lock failed to re-engage.
"Eureka!" Bentley shouted, wheeling himself confidently over to the
other terminal and beginning his hacking there. "That's what she gets for
trying to match wits with me!"
His happiness was short-lived, however, as the scope of this terminal's
defenses had increased exponentially. "Pride goeth before a fall," he quoted
as his hacking code was simultaneously decimated by no less than ten system
defenses at the same time. "Still, there hasn't been a system who has stood
up to me yet, and this will not be the first."
It took a lot of time, more time than Bentley would ever admit to, but
he finally hacked through the system. Just as he started to celebrate, he
noticed that the countdown timer in the corner had started and was down to
five seconds! Thinking quickly, he grabbed hold of the terminal and knocked
it off its stand, wrecking it beyond all further usage, but preventing it from
re-engaging the second lock. "You were a worthy adversary," he intoned as he
retrieved his part of the key, a small knob by which the key would be held and
turned. "You deserved a far more fitting end than this. Forgive me for what
I had to do."
Bentley rolled himself out the same way he got in, idly wondering how
the others were doing. As he wheeled down the main street toward the
drawbridge that led to the safehouse, he got half his answer. "Yee ha!"
Murray yelled from atop the elephant's back as it dashed across the street in
front of Bentley.
Bentley's jaw just about hit the floor. Surely he hadn't just seen what
he thought he had, right? He cautiously rolled himself up to the corner that
Murray and the elephant had disappeared around and his jaw dropped even
further at what he saw. Murray was on the back of the elephant, but he was
holding on with one hand while the other hand waved wildly in the air. It was
like watching some kind of extreme rodeo.
"Do your worst elephant!" Murray taunted even as the elephant bucked
wildly and tried to slam him into a building. "It will take a lot more than
that to get 'The Murray' off your back."
The elephant ran into the central square and around the fountain, but it
was obviously moving slower than it had been. When it bucked, it barely got
its legs off the ground. After only about three or so circuits of the
fountain, the elephant's legs buckled and it tilted sideways, falling into the
fountain and smashing the statue of the Vixen to bits.
Murray hopped off the elephant before it landed and stood next to its
head. "Rest now," he told his fallen foe, lifting the teeth of the key from
where it lay on the center of its head. "'The Murray' acknowledges your
efforts and looks forward to the day we meet again on the battlefield."
"Murray!" Bentley cried, hurriedly rolling up to his friend. "Are you
all right? That ride looked painful and dangerous!"
Murray smiled down at the turtle, touched by the worry in his friend's
voice. "Your concern is appreciated, citizen, but ultimately unneeded. It
will take far more than what this elephant was able to do to harm 'The
Murray.' Come, let us return to the safehouse where Sly will hopefully be
waiting for us."
It took a minute or two to return to the safehouse, and as Murray had
predicted Sly was sitting in his chair waiting for them. "What took you?" he
inquired calmly, his feet up on the table as he leaned so far back in his
chair it was nearly tipping over.
Both Bentley and Murray crossed their arms and glared at him, but it was
almost impossible to remain angry at Sly for very long. "How much time do we
have left?" Bentley asked instead of giving voice to the cutting remarks in
his mind.
Sly chuckled as if he could see the thoughts running around in Bentley's
brain and it amused him. He dropped his feet from the table and sat up
suddenly, laying his piece of the key on the table. "About eight minutes," he
said, glancing at the open box. "Still plenty of time to get there."
Bentley collected all the pieces of the key and fit them together.
"Here," he said, tossing Sly the completed key, "you open it then."
Sly caught the key in mid-air and sauntered over to the closet. The key
fit the lock perfectly and it opened easily, the door swinging wide open of
its own accord. Hanging inside, surrounded by flamethrower nozzles as the
Vixen had warned, was the tuxedo. It looked to be recently cleaned and
freshly pressed. "I'm coming Carmelita," he swore under his breath, carefully
lifting the tuxedo off its hanger in case there was another trap.
There wasn't.
Sly got changed in what seemed record time, leaving a full four minutes
for him to get to the ballroom doors. As he had to walk and couldn't really
jump in this outfit, he knew it would take longer than normal to get there.
He kept a countdown of the seconds in his head as he stepped out of the
safehouse, trying to hurry as much as he could without doing any damage to the
tuxedo. When he reached the doors and knocked on them again, his count was
down to thirty.
The wooden slat in the door opened once more and the Vixen's mask peered
out. "Do you have your tuxedo now, sir?" she asked, her voice lilting just
slightly in her amusement.
"But of course," Sly answered, adjusting his bowtie. "I am here to
dance after all." The slat in the door slid shut and Sly could hear the lock
that held the door closed click. He waited for a minute to see if the Vixen
would open the door for him, but she did not. Pursing his lips slightly, he
pushed the door open and strode inside just as his mental count reached zero.
A part of him was really bothered by that; did she really know him and his
friends so well that she could plan their actions down to the second? If that
was the case, then she knew him better than he knew himself.
Unlike the last time he had been here, the ballroom was mostly empty,
holding only a handful of individuals. The Vixen was draped across Rajan's
throne provocatively, her arms raised above her head as she arched her back
over one of the armrests. "So glad you could join us Cooper," she purred in a
soft and seductive voice. "And you're right on time too! For a change."
Sly's eyes narrowed as they focused on the other occupants of the room.
"What's she doing here?" he demanded, pointing at the femme feline he had
recently seen in Haiti. "And where's Carmelita?"
The cat's blue eyes were downcast, searching the floor as her calico
hair partially hid her face from view. She was attired in what looked to be
the exact same black dress that Carmelita had worn when they had danced
together. It didn't fit the feline as well as it had Carmelita, but it fit
well enough.
"Oh her?" The Vixen asked, slowly sitting up one vetebra at a time.
"Well, you said you were here to dance, right? Therefore you need a dance
partner. As for your beloved Carmelita...." The Vixen picked up her cane
that had been resting against the side of the throne and tapped the bottom of
a cage that was suspended from the ceiling winch. A low moan sounded at the
tapping and a familiar orange tail fell out limply between the bars.
"What have you done to her?" he accused, clenching his fists. He
wished he had brought his cane with him, but he hadn't wanted to take the risk
that she would consider him not properly attired and refuse him entry.
The Vixen smirked at him, but this one was half sneer. "She's unharmed,
just drugged for now. What I do to her all depends on you Cooper."
"What's your game now?"
"It's simple really," the Vixen said, standing up gracefully and
sashaying toward him. "I've seen pictures of the beauty that was your tango
with Carmelita. I have to admit, I nearly gave up on you before I even met
you when I saw that. But then I had to wonder, was it because there was some
true feeling between the two of you, or were you two just that damn good? I
have to know."
"So what? You called me here to dance? You have got to be kidding."
"Oh believe me Ringtail, this is no joke. You and my subordinate over
there will dance the exact same dance that you shared with your Carmelita."
Sly crossed his arms, fighting not to take a step back as the Vixen
advanced on him. "And if I refuse?"
The Vixen looked at Sly intently, as if she were sizing him up. "You
won't, but if you refuse, then everything in that cage becomes a pincushion.
And the same thing happens if you make a mistake."
"Oh that's rich," Sly muttered. "So that's the game huh? No matter how
well I dance, your lackey over there will mess up at just the right moment to
give you all the reason you need to get Carmelita out of the way."
"You disappoint me Cooper," the Vixen growled softly. "I would never
stoop to such a dirty trick. There's no honor in that."
"And there's honor in kidnapping someone completely innocent?"
The Vixen bared her teeth in a snarl, and Sly couldn't help but notice
they seemed a little more jagged than he remembered. "Your precious Carmelita
is far from innocent. It's her fault that we're all here today. If she had
just kept her nose out of our business.... But enough about that for now."
she said, recovering her composure.
She used the hook of her cane to lift the feline's face. A steel collar
was around her neck, one with a flashing red light on it. "To answer your
question," the Vixen continued, "nothing will happen to Ms. Fox if Maia over
here makes a mistake. She, however, will not be so lucky. For each step she
misses, the collar around her neck gets a little tighter. If she misses too
many...."
"You are sick," Sly spat, turning his back on her to show his disdain.
"Perhaps," the Vixen allowed, taking Maia by the arm and shoving her
into Sly. "But you have no choice, now do you? And don't worry, her collar
will fall off once the music ends."
Sly stumbled when he felt Maia collide with his back, and he turned
around to catch her instinctively. "You all right?" he asked her in an low
voice.
Maia nodded as she regained her footing. "I'm sorry about this," she
started to say but stopped as tango music began to play.
"Just follow my lead," Sly said, taking her hand in his and wrapping his
other arm around her back.
Maia placed her free hand on his shoulder and assumed the starting pose
for the tango they would be dancing. "Try to stop me," she said with what was
supposed to be a playful smirk, but it came out as more of a grimace.
Despite the situation he found himself forced into, Sly couldn't help
but feel his heart quicken at the perceived challenge. He led her into three
sliding steps, a very simple opening. Maia matched his moves easily, then led
him into the same three steps. Sly led her into two sliding steps and a twirl
which was easily followed and matched.
Sly started to feel a little more relaxed as he and Maia performed two
quick kicks, a sliding step, and a stomp only to perform the same moves again
with Maia in the lead. As he twirled her around in preparation for another
sliding step and a dip, he actually thought he might be starting to enjoy
this. "You dance very well," he told her after she had mirrored his moves and
the music allowed them a moment to breathe.
"I suppose I do," Maia said in a sultry purr. Dancing the tango with
such a capable partner had ignited the fire in her blood, regardless of the
danger present. "But then if I didn't, that world championship trophy on my
mantle would mean nothing, would it?"
Sly was so surprised by this pronouncement that he nearly missed the cue
to begin dancing again. He turned over this bit of information as they did a
sliding step, faced each other for a beat, then stepped again. "A champion,
is she?" he pondered as she led him into the exact same moves. "That would
explain why she's so good. Even better than Carmelita."
He allowed his body to go on automatic for the moment; he'd relived this
dance with Carmelita in his dreams so many times he almost didn't even need to
listen to the music. A sliding step, a twirl, then face each other. Let her
lead through the same moves. Two quick twirls, look up at the ceiling, lower
her into a dip. Let her lead again. A sharp stomp, a sliding step, and a
flourish kick.
Sly looked at her after she had led him through the last series of moves
and the music entered the second and final bridge. "A champion, huh?" he
asked, giving voice to his thoughts.
Maia met his gaze easily and unflinchingly. "Six times running," she
purred proudly, a saucy smirk on her lips. "Now let's finish this up so we
can both get what we deserve."
Sly nodded and set his arms in position as the music's beat picked up
again. Two quick kicks then two sliding steps were executed flawlessly both
when he led and when she led. A sliding step, two quick twirls, and another
sliding step followed. Maia nearly forgot the second twirl when it was her
turn, but Sly managed to slip it in while still making it look like she was
the one leading him.
"Thanks," she whispered, a bead of sweat running down her face at the
close call.
"My pleasure," Sly said, leading her into a sliding step, then looking
up at the ceiling, and two quick sliding steps.
Maia was careful to follow all four of the moves this time. But her
nervousness was evident when she almost mistook Sly's lead of a sliding step,
stomp, kick, and dip as a sliding step, two stomps, and a dip. "Relax Maia,"
she reminded herself, trying to focus on the steps as she repeated Sly's
moves. "Tense up and lose, that was the first thing you were taught."
Sly felt Maia losing her composure and gently pressed his hand against
her back to make her look him in the eyes. Once he had locked gazes with her,
he led her into three quick twirls and the lifted his face to the ceiling,
still looking at her out of the corner of his eye. It wasn't much, but the
eye contact helped Maia find her confidence again and she managed to match his
moves easily.
Sly smiled encouragingly at Maia as he led her into the final three
moves: a sliding step, a look at the ceiling, and finally a twirling dip.
Maia found it in her to smile back as she performed the moves effortlessly and
their tango came to an end. "Thank you so much for that," she said as he
set her back on her feet.
"No trouble at all," Sly assured her. "Under different circumstances,
I'm sure this would've been very enjoyable."
"I have no doubt of that," Maia said, catching the collar as it fell
from around her neck. "If you ever think about changing careers, I'm looking
for a new partner."
"I'll keep that in mind," Sly said, bowing to her as she curtsied. "And
now, if you'll excuse me--"
"By all means," Maia said, stepping aside as the Vixen walked up to
them, clapping her hands slowly.
"Truly a wonderful performance," the Vixen said, still clapping her
hands in a mocking manner. "Technically it was even more sound than the dance
you shared with Carmelita. But there was something lacking, something that
made it seem colder, more distant. I wonder what it could be."
Sly crossed his arms over his chest and stared coolly at the Vixen. "I
know what it was missing, but why should I tell you? If you don't know what
it is on your own, I could never explain it to you."
The mask hid her expression well, but Sly could still tell she was
rolling her eyes. "I suppose you did fulfill my requirements," she said
slowly, as if saying those words were painful to her. "I should fill my end
of the bargain too. Though I don't recall ever saying what you would get if
you played along."
Sly waved this aside as unimportant, an action that seemed to surprise
the Vixen. "All I want is for you to answer one question. Where is the
Vixen?"
The look of surprise on the Vixen's face was so comical that Sly only
barely held himself back from laughing. "What kind of nonsense question is
that?" she demanded. "I'm right here in front of you!"
"Yes you are," Sly agreed. "But you're not the Vixen. I don't know who
you are, but I know who you're not."
While the Vixen, or whoever it was that was dressed as her, spluttered
indignantly, she failed to notice Maia creeping up behind her with the white
and platinum cane in hand. With a hoarse cry, she swung the cane into the
side of the "Vixen," knocking her away from Sly and down to the ground.
"You've gone too far this time Luka," Maia snarled, her arms trembling in
anger as she adjusted her grip on the cane she held. "What were you thinking
putting that collar on me?"
Sly glanced at the fallen female and was not too surprised at what he
saw. Her mask had fallen off, but it was enough that Sly could see her
features were more lupine than vulpine. "What am I thinking?" the arctic
wolf growled, sweeping the mask away as she glared at Maia. "What are you
thinking? You dance with this guy once and suddenly you're on his side?
What about the plan?"
"You shot the plan to Hell the moment you put the collar on me! The
Vixen would've never allowed you to do that!"
"Stop kidding yourself! She's the one who told me to!"
Maia looked like she had been slapped in the face, but she quickly
recovered. "Damn you! Damn you and her! Forget these games; I'm going to
tell Sly exactly where she is!"
Luka was on her feet in an instant. "Don't you dare--!" was all she
got out of her mouth before Maia swung the cane she held so hard that the
white handle shattered as the metal part struck Luka in the skull. It was a
testament to her toughness that the wolf was not knocked out from that blow,
and that it took an awkwardly executed, but very effect spinning kick to the
face by Maia to put her on the ground unconscious.
Maia huffed a bit as she crossed her arms under her chest. "Nobody
makes a fool out of me," she muttered, nudging the prone wolf with the toe of
her high-heeled shoe. She turned back to Sly and did a double take at his
open mouth. "What?"
"Why didn't you fight that well against me?" he asked.
Maia combed her hair behind her ears and shrugged. "I was told not to,"
she answered simply. "Look, Sly, I'm sorry about all this. I don't know when
this game of the Vixen's got so out of hand, but it's time to end it. Luka
here was supposed to send you down to Brazil on another wild chase, but no
more. The Vixen is holding Carmelita in an abandoned scientific facility in
Antarctica. She's at home there in the cold."
"I wish I had thought of that earlier," Sly said after he realized how
much it made sense. "Listen Maia, you should get out of here. Once Luka
comes to, she'll probably warn the Vixen I'm on my way. And you know she
won't be happy with you."
"I can handle her," Maia said disdainfully, glancing at the still
unconscious lupine. "You go save Carmelita. She needs you."
Sly nodded and turned to run outside when he noticed a sad expression
cross the feline's face. "Is everything all right?"
Maia blinked, surprised at being caught, and pasted a smile on her face.
"Just peachy," she tried to assure him, but she had wince at how fake it
sounded. "All right, all right, I was just thinking. Another time, another
place...."
She didn't have to continue for Sly to get her meaning, and he smiled
slightly. "Anything's possible," he admitted. "But I have to say it would be
more probable than possible."
Maia nodded gratefully and wiped a tear from the corner of her blue eye
with a smile. Before she could let herself think about what she was doing,
she hurried up to him and gathered him up in her arms, pressing her lips to
his in a deep kiss.
Sly hadn't seen that one coming, but he instinctively responded to the
kiss, his eyes closing. It was so full of need and longing that it would be
easy to lose himself to it, especially when she added her tongue to the mix.
But as right as it felt, it also felt wrong for just one reason: it wasn't
Carmelita he was kissing. He pulled himself from her arms gently, breaking
the kiss in the process. "I...I should go," he murmured.
"Yeah you should," Maia agreed, putting a brave face on. "I know I
can't have you Sly, but you can't blame me for wanting a taste, can you?
Don't answer that though, you're wasting time. Go on, get out of here, before
I forget that I'm not supposed to be convincing you to stay."
Sly smiled and bowed his head to her one last time. He turned around
and walked out of the ballroom, his mind a whirl. "Antarctica, huh?" he
thought as he emerged into the open air. "Well, this won't be the first time
I've dealt with a cold heart. I just hope it's the last."
TO BE CONTINUED (
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