"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 8: An Icy Confrontation
Quick Author's Note: A large apology for the delay of this chapter. My mom
was diagnosed with ALS(Lou Gehrig's disease) and I haven't felt much like
writing in the past months. I'm trying to get myself on track, but it's
slow going. Please be patient with me. I assure you, it will be worth it.
After I had finished the first draft of this, I asked fellow Sly Cooper
fanfic author Kit Karamak to look it over. He made a lot of suggestions.
Some I followed, others I didn't. But if anything looks weird, blame it on
him, not me.
To say that Bentley had been unhappy when learning of the Vixen's true
location was an understatement. He'd never liked the cold, and now that he
was in a wheelchair it would be even worse. "Are you sure we can't just go
somewhere else?" he asked plaintively. "You know, somewhere like...Tahiti?"
The glare that Sly levelled at him was almost enough to freeze Bentley where
he sat despite the fact that they had not left India yet, and Bentley had the
distinct impression that he was folding in on himself.
"So what's our best option?" Sly asked, refusing to answer Bentley's
inane request. While Bentley started checking the laptop for possibilities,
Sly walked back into the closet to change out of his tuxedo. Could this be
the real thing? Would he finally be able to find the Vixen and therefore
find Carmelita as well?
As he began to work his bowtie apart and the cufflinks that clung to his
wrists, he let his eyes close and let the events of an hour prior wash over
him. After he'd left the ballroom, he had suddenly remembered that there'd
been someone in that cage above Luka's head. He'd rushed back inside to find
Maia in the process of tying up Luka, snarling a few choice insults at the
unconscious wolf. Maia had been shocked to see him again so soon; she'd
expected him to be halfway to Antarctica by now. He had seen on her face the
slight hope that he had come back for her, and he'd hated to crush it by
heading to the cage instead of into her arms.
He'd practically felt Maia's stare sadden slightly as he ran past her.
He'd almost been tempted to look back at her until she'd just started laughing
long and loud. He'd thought for a moment that she had cracked under the
pressure or something, but then he'd actually gotten the cage lowered. Inside
had been the equivalent of a slap across the face: a tape recorder and a
mechanical tail that was set to twitch every few minutes.
Sly had stared at the cage for a time, muttering about his foolishness
before his laughter had joined Maia's. A third voice had soon joined theirs,
but it had been doing anything but laughing. The commotion Sly and Maia had
been causing had finally woken Luka from her stupor and, upon finding out
that she had been tied up rather effectively, had begun hurling every curse
she knew at the mirthful pair. Some of it had been rather inventive, but not
nearly on the scale of the Vixen/Rosalita confrontation he had witnessed.
Maia had stopped laughing after one comment that insulted not only her
purity but that of her mother's as well. A cruel sneer had spread across her
pretty face and her blue eye had sparked in anger. All in all, Sly had felt
that the cold leer on Maia's normally demure visage was terribly out of place.
"Go save your Carmelita," she'd said, slowly advancing on a helpless Luka.
"You're not going to want to see this." Sly had entertained thoughts of
stopping her, but a devious wink that she'd sent his way had reassured him
enough to take his leave.
"Are you going to stand in there all day?" Bentley asked, interrupting
Sly's reverie. "As much as I don't want to go somewhere that's nothing but
snow and ice, I'd rather get there as soon as possible and get it over with."
"Sorry Bentley," Sly apologized. Something was niggling at the back of
his mind and it seemed important, but he couldn't quite get a grip on it.
"What have you got for us?" He quickly finished removing the tuxedo and
gratefully pulled his familiar sweater back on his body.
"It's not good," Bentley admitted, typing some more on his laptop.
"I've been able to find a few scientific bases in Antarctica, but only one
that has been classified as 'abandoned'. It's an old military base that had
been converted to study the effects of global warming on the ice shelf. And
that brings me to why it's not good. Somehow the Vixen has been able to get
the old military defenses operational. We'd have enough trouble getting
through the ten foot tall electrified fence, but with the personal touches
that the Vixen is sure to have included, it's going to be next to impossible
to penetrate. Still, I probably would've never found this place without
Maia's help, and the Vixen won't be expecting us. So we should have some
element of surprise."
"And some surprise is all we need," Sly said with a smirk. "Good job
Bentley, as always. How quick can you get us there?"
"I can have us there by the end of the week," Bentley answered with
confidence.
Sly nodded and turned around to head back outside when he stopped in
mid-step. "Hey Bentley, can you look something up for me while you're online?
I finally figured out what's been bothering me."
"You mean there was something bothering you other than Carmelita and the
Vixen?"
"It's just something Maia said to me while we were dancing. She said
she was a world champion tango dancer, six times running. Can you look it up
and see if she was telling the truth?"
Bentley's fingers paused above his laptop's keys for a second before he
turned to look at Sly. "Is that really more important than making sure we get
to Antarctica safely?" he asked, adjusting his glasses.
Sly tapped the hook of his cane against his lips as he thought. "Well,
if she was telling the truth about that then we know we can absolutely trust
her about everything else."
Bentley blinked a couple times as he digested Sly's reasoning. "I guess
I can understand that," he admitted, turning back to his laptop and accessing
a search engine. He started to type in the necessary information when he
sensed Sly walk up to stand behind him. "Sly, you're hovering."
"It normally doesn't bother you," Sly pointed out, looking over his
friend's shoulder at the screen.
"Well it's bothering me today," Bentley snapped, making Sly jump back in
surprise. He could see his friend's hurt expression and Bentley sighed,
rubbing his temples. "I'm sorry Sly. I'm just a little on edge right now.
Why don't you go outside and I'll call you when I've found something."
Sly nodded and walked outside with his head slightly down. It wasn't
like Bentley to snap at anyone like that, unless a mission was in danger of
being compromised. Sly knew it was probably the stress getting to him just
like it was getting to everyone else. But to have Bentley react like that....
If they didn't resolve things with the Vixen soon, Sly was afraid the tensions
would start to rip the team apart.
As Sly had expected of a self-proclaimed computer expert, Bentley found
the information on Maia in less than ten minutes. The official World Ballroom
Dancing Association website confirmed her claim of being a six-time champion
as well as detailed the tragedy that had befallen her. Her partner, a black-
furred chihuahua with the name of Pedro, had been caught in a building
collapse just one month after winning their sixth title. He was still alive,
but a steel beam had fallen across his back and paralyzed him from the neck
down, ending his dancing career.
Instead of showing compassion, the WBDA committee had moved to strip
them of their titles immediately so that they could be replaced with another
team who could still dance. He hadn't even been released from the hospital
when the decision was handed down. In a fit of rage, Maia had sworn revenge
on the committee and disappeared into the underground. No one had heard of
her since until she had turned up as part of the Vixen's gang.
Sly stared at the printout in his hand in distaste. "Bentley," he said
folding up the paper slowly and deliberately, "when we're done with this, I
think we should pay those offices a visit and deliver the trophy back where it
belongs."
"I will make a note of that," Bentley promised. "But for now, let's me
get back to my flight planning."
The route to Antarctica was a lot longer than Sly would have liked.
From India, they had to travel through Japan to Australia and then charter a
special plane to take them to the abandoned airfield that once served the
science facility. When they landed at the airfield, they found an unpleasant
surprise waiting for them. The runway had been recently cleared and the
nearby control tower was fully stocked with supplies. Food, water, fuel, even
snow chains for the van's tires and snowsuits for themselves. "So much for
surprising her," Bentley groused, while Murray wasted no time outfitting the
van.
To make matters even worse, once they neared the abandoned base they
found a large igloo built just on the base's perimeter. It was fully
outfitted with everything Bentley could ever want in a safehouse. It even had
a projector and an internet port for his laptop! But instead of being happy
about it, he was nearly foaming at the mouth in his anger. "She's just
playing with us!" he raged, almost launching himself out of his wheelchair in
his agitation.
Murray laid a heavy yet calming hand on his friend's shoulder, even
though that hand took up most of his upper arm as well. "Relax Bentley," he
said in his deep voice. "If the Vixen wants to play with us, then let that be
her downfall. Think of how much sweeter the victory will be when we use the
supplies she herself provided us with to beat her."
Bentley sat silently for a moment, then he smiled with evil intent. "I
like the way you think Murray. OK, since she's so eager to help us make our
assault on her, let's not keep the lady waiting."
Cooper tilted his head, Carmelita’s safety still on his mind. "She’s not
the only lady who’s waiting on us." Sly placed his paws on his hips then
casually eased them down into his pockets.
"Quite right," said Bentley, adding, "I stand corrected. So..." The
tortoise rubbed his hands together as if warming them up in unison to warming
up the 'evil planning' section of his brain.
Sly smirked and sat down at the table. "So," he repeated, leaning
forward over the table in his excitement, "how are we going to do this?"
Bentley adjusted the glasses on his face and plugged his laptop into the
internet port. Once the laptop was booted up and ready to go, his fingers
flew across the keyboard. "I've uploaded the blueprints of the base into the
laptop. And I see the Vixen has made one critical error," he added. "Since
her base is the only place around with internet access, the port she so
graciously included in our igloo goes through her system. Therefore I can
slip into her defense grid and hack it down for you. She may know we’re here
and she might even feel confident enough to offer us an Internet jack, but
I’ve got a little surprise in store.... She’ll never know what hit her."
"Sounds a little too easy," Sly said, frowning in thought. "She's been
really careful up to this point. Why would she make a mistake now?"
"We did throw her plans off, remember? Odds are she did not have this
part of her plan detailed as well as she would have liked. If she can
misjudge Maia then she can misjudge us, too. I don't doubt she would have
caught this if we had played her game straight through, but since we took a
shortcut, so to speak, she's trying to appear like she's in control when she's
really scrambling to stay in control."
Sly shrugged. It did make sense when put like that, and that was what
Bentley did. "And to think, just two minutes ago you were ranting and raving
about how she was playing with us."
"I'm calmer now," Bentley said, calling up the hacking program in his
computer. "And you know I'm at my best when I'm able to think calmly. Now
please, let me have my silence so I can get us in."
Sly knew it could take a while for Bentley to do his thing, so he took
to exploring the igloo to see what else it held. Off in a remote corner, he
noticed a line of blue sparkling lights near the floor. He tapped the wall
with his cane, not surprised to hear that it was hollow. "Hey guys, I found
something," he called, using his cane to trace the outline of the door he'd
discovered.
"Let me at it Sly," Murray said walking over. The crack was too small
for him to slip his fingers into, so he just shattered the door with one
"Fists of Flames" punch. "There you go, all nice and open for you."
Sly had ducked out of the way when Murray lit his hands on fire, but
he'd still had a few ice shards get way too close for comfort. "Nice job
Murray," he said, keeping his real thoughts inside. "Anything important in
there?"
Murray looked inside the hidden room, then backed away quickly. "Umm,
maybe you should see it for yourself," he said, running back over to Bentley
without saying another word.
Sly scratched his head at Murray's unusual reaction. He turned toward
the open room and said, "Oh come on, it can't be that...bad." He found his
jaw dropping, again, as he saw what Murray had seen. A perfect ice sculpture
of the Vixen awaited him, down to the last detail; it was even wearing a set
of the Vixen's clothes though they bodysuit was partially undone. It would be
so easy to just take off the bodysuit and see just how detailed the sculptor
decided to get. Sly’s eyes raked over the feminine figure, passed the swell
of her sculpted bust and hourglass hips. His eyes drank in the luscious,
curvaceous waistline then lowered further, down to....
Sly whirled around and stormed away. She was really testing the limits
of his patience...in more ways than one. "Have you found anything yet?" he
demanded a bit more harshly than he intended.
Bentley spun his wheelchair around and glared at Sly. "Do you really
think that only two minutes is enough for me?" he asked in a falsely calm
tone. When Sly looked embarrassed, Bentley's glare faded into a smirk. "Then
I guess you don't know me very well, do you? We're all ready to go."
"I'm impressed. So, what are we waiting for then?"
After checking their gear, they headed toward the base. "I've set a
delayed timer that will cut off electricity to the fence," Bentley explained
as they neared the base. "It should also knock out any other surprises that
she has planned. We'll have to move fast though; I can't keep the power off
for long without her noticing it."
"Piece of cake," Sly mumbled, shielding his face against the bitter
cold. "How much longer till it goes down?"
"It should be going down right...about...now!" And true to Bentley's
words, the fence stopped sizzling with electricity right when Bentley said it
would. "I'm unstoppable!" he crowed.
Sly chuckled as he used his cane to loosen a section of the fence.
"Don't know what I'd do without you. Or you Murray. So let's show the Vixen
exactly what the Cooper Gang is capable of."
"Stand back Citizen," Murray said, shoving his hands under the weakened
fence. "This job is for 'The Murray'." It took some time, and a couple of
strained muscles, but Murray was able to lift that part of the fence above
his head. "Come on, I can't hold it up forever!"
Sly darted through the opening easily. Bentley was ready to follow, but
he noticed that a spot on the back of Sly's suit glowed as he passed through
the fence. His eyes narrowed in thought, then widened as the truth hit him.
"Murray! Get out of there!"
"Huh?" Murray tried to ask, but was cut off as electricity arced
through his massive form. He bellowed in pain, every muscle in his body
seizing before he was blown backward into a pile of snow.
"Murray!" Sly and Bentley yelled. Bentley wheeled over to him while
Sly looked for a way out. "Is he all right?" Sly asked, pacing back and
forth agitatedly.
Murray moaned as he forced himself to stand up on shaky knees. "I'm...
I'm all right," he said, leaning so heavily on Bentley's wheelchair that the
metal creaked. "I'm just a little woozy."
"It looks like his snowsuit deflected most of the electricity," Bentley
commented, looking Murray over. "He's lucky to have rubber boots; with so
many layers of snow beneath our feet he would've been fried to a crisp." He
shifted his weight slightly to counter-balance the hippo's weight against the
side of his chair, just to ensure that it wouldn’t capsize in the snow. "But
I'd still rather get him back to the safehouse and check him over. You get
inside and I'll contact you once Murray is comfortable."
"I'm afraid that won't be possible," the Vixen called over their binoc-
u-coms. "You see, I'm only interested in testing my skills against Cooper,
not the Cooper Gang. Once you get into my lair, all communication with the
outside world will be cut off. Just you and me Cooper, just like I've always
wanted it to be."
"We don't have a choice," Sly said when Bentley tried to argue. "If I
don't go in there right now, there's no telling what she's going to do to
Carmelita. Take care of Murray. I'll take care of the Vixen."
Bentley nodded reluctantly as he helped Murray back to the safehouse.
He looked over his shoulder at his best friend as he disappeared inside. "I
hope you're ready for this Sly," he whispered as Murray reached out and
opened the safehouse door.
Sly closed the base's door against the cold before struggling out of his
snowsuit, glad to have the bulky thing off his body. The hallway was dimly
lit by old fluorescent lights, the flickering sending weird shadows flittering
across the wall.
He crept down the hallway, heading deeper into the base. He cringed as
his normally silent steps echoed sharply through the building. Sly slowed
down in an attempt to quiet his movements, but it had no effect. Now that he
was actually paying attention to it, he realized that the floor felt rough,
like something was stretched over it. He stopped and tapped his cane against
the floor and wasn't surprised to hear the crinkling of aluminum foil over
glass dust with each strike. "Clever girl," he muttered, taking off down the
hallway at full speed now that it was pointless to sneak.
He had a rough idea of where he was headed thanks to the plans that
Bentley had found. As he turned a corner, about halfway to his goal, he
stopped himself short. The hall ahead was occupied, which he expected he
would see eventually, but he wasn't quite sure what he was looking at. In
front of him stood...sat...was a strange looking blue penguin.
Its black eyes were vacant as they stared at him, almost like they were
looking through him. It wore a brown satchel around its chest and there was
something strange growing out of its back. "Are they bat wings?" Sly
considered, tilting his head slightly. But perhaps most disturbing were the
scars and stitches that criss-crossed under its beak.
Sly looked around as the strange penguin continued to stare blankly at
him, growing more and more nervous. "Umm, hi little penguin...thing?" he
said calmly, backing away slowly.
The penguin snapped its head up as Sly spoke, its gaze now focusing
squarely on him. A stupid grin split its yellow beak as it hopped up and
down, flapping its arms. "Dood!" it yelled, waddling forward at a surprising
speed.
Sly backed up a step or two, staring at the strange creature. It didn't
look like it was going to stop, or even if it could, so he stepped aside at
the last minute. The penguin ran right into the wall with enough velocity to
knock itself out if not more.
But that's not what happened. As soon as it struck the wall it exploded
with massive force, flinging Sly down the hallway and sending him skidding
along the aluminum covered floor on his shoulder. He lay still for a moment
as he slid to a stop, his body aching in ways he had never dreamed possible.
"What the hell was that?" he wondered aloud, his eyes clenched tight against
the pain.
After the pain subsided, Sly rolled to his stomach and slowly pushed
himself off the ground. As he was about to try to stand up, a familiar
crinkling sound caught his attention. He opened his eyes and found himself
looking at a pair of webbed feet. "Uh oh," he whispered, tilting his face up.
His gaze went up past the blue and white feathers, past the brown satchel, and
fixed on two blank eyes staring into his.
Sly yelped and fell back on his backside, scurrying away as fast as he
could. Those movements were enough to center the penguin's attention on him,
the vacant eyes now full of purpose. Sly twisted fluidly to his feet,
performing something halfway between a kippup and a somersault, and sprinted
down the hallway. For a moment, he hoped that the penguin wasn't following
him, but that hope was dashed as he heard "Dood!" echoing off the walls.
Sly turned a sharp corner, paying no heed to which way he was going. A
few seconds later he heard two things in quick succession: the penguin hitting
the wall and the penguin exploding. Because he wasn't that close to the point
of impact this time, he wasn't hurt even though he was propelled forward. He
tucked into a roll and rode the momentum out, uncurling back to his feet.
"That's it!" he yelled. "If it weren't for Carmelita I'd be out of here
right now! As it is, I'm in the mood for barbecued penguin!"
He stormed down the halls, trying to figure out which passage would
bring him closer to his goal. He came to a T-intersection and chose the left
hallway at random. He hadn't taken more than a single step when he saw one of
those hated penguins waddle into sight. "Umm, not that way," he mused aloud,
turning around quickly. But before he could take a step that way, another
penguin appeared. "OK, back the way I came then." But to his dismay even
that way had been blocked off by a penguin.
Sly looked around at the three penguins who were all looking back at
him. He stayed as still as possible, hoping that at least one of them would
get bored and waddle off somewhere. Unfortunately, they all fixed their gazes
on him with that expression he had already learned to fear. Even as Sly was
shaking his head, pleading with them not to do anything rash, they all ran
toward him yelling "Dood!"
Sly backed against the wall, frantically searching for a way out. A
hard object poked into his back, making him look down. There was a doorknob
set into the wall that he hadn't noticed before. Without pausing to think
about it, he grabbed the doorknob and pulled. The door opened and he darted
behind it, slamming the door behind him.
He could hear the explosion fill the hallway, but the door didn't even
shake from the force. "That's weird," he thought even though he didn't really
care. He cracked the door open and glanced outside, hoping that all three
penguins had done themselves in. All was clear. "Finally, something going my
way," he said, a bit of his confidence returning.
As he thought about opening the door wider, the fur on the back of his
neck rose. He was being watched, there was no mistaking this feeling. He
closed his eyes and leaned his head against the door. "Please, please don't
let there be one of those penguins behind me," he begged turning around even
though he really didn't want to.
He got his wish, but not how he wanted to. There wasn't one penguin
waiting for him in the room he had hidden in; there were a hundred. Not all
of them were blue this time however, and those with different colors were
somewhat larger than the others. And they were all getting up to their feet
gazing at him intently.
Sly didn't even bother with opening the door; he ran it down screaming
at the top of his lungs. He dodged this way and that, not even caring where
he was going anymore as long as it was away from those penguins! All the
hallways looked exactly the same anyway; he was already lost. Explosions
mixed with cries of "Dood!" sounded behind him as the penguins ran into walls
and each other. He dived through the first open doorway he noticed and prayed
it had been enough to throw off his pursuers.
"So you finally made it Sly Cooper," the Vixen purred as she walked
sensually toward him. She personified her saunter with a sexy sashay of her
hips, shifting hypnotically with every step. "I was wondering how long--what
are you doing?"
The Vixen's surprised cry came from the fact that Sly had charged her
and now had his entire body wrapped around her. "Thank goodness you're not
another one of those penguins!" he said over and over, relieved tears falling
from his eyes, matting down the fur of his cheeks.
The Vixen could feel herself blushing and knew it was visible even
through the indigo makeup she wore on her cheeks. She had wanted to be in
this position from the moment she met him if she were being completely honest
with herself. She desired nothing more than to simply melt in his embrace and
return it. But she knew it was neither the time nor place for this; they had
business to settle first. "What is the matter with you?" she asked, wincing
when her voice trembled slightly. "What are you talking about?"
"Those penguins are after me!" Sly insisted. "They're trying to kill
me!"
"Penguins?" The Vixen wondered, arching an eyebrow under her mask.
"Oh, you mean my Prinnies."
"DOOD!"
Sly jumped away with a yelp, looking about the room as his fur stood up
in fright. Those penguins, Prinnies as the Vixen called them, formed a loose
ring around them blocking off all avenues of escape. "So this is how you're
going to kill me, is it?" he accused in a low, dark voice.
The Vixen laughed loudly, the sound shocking Sly into looking back at
her. "Did you really think I would stoop so low Cooper?" she taunted. "Come
now, all I ever wanted was to test myself against you. How could I do that if
I were not the one to kill you?"
"Yeah well I think exploding penguins would do the trick rather nicely!"
"Exploding demonic penguins," the Vixen corrected with a smirk. "Let me
tell you a little story about what exactly was going on at this 'weather base'
as they referred to it." She brushed her paws down over her torso, smoothing
her suit of wrinkles caused by his previous clinging embrace.
She mock-cleared her throat then grinned again. Her Cheshire expression
displayed her pearly incisors to maximum effect. "As you may or may not know,
this 'used' to be a military base. But the simple fact is, it never stopped.
The military just changed its designation when watchdog groups started looking
at it too closely. They conducted all kinds of horrific experiments, both
scientific and magical. And that was where they made their final mistake.
"You see Ringtail, the fools managed to open up a portal to a different
dimension, a dimension called 'The Netherworld.' The portal wasn't open very
long, but it was long enough for a single Prinny to slip through to our
world."
"A single Prinny?" Sly interrupted. "Seems like I've seen a lot more
than one today."
The Vixen reached over and flicked his nose gently. "I'm getting to
that. They were amazed by what they had found and immediately set to trying
to figure out what he was and what made him tick. Because of the Prinny's
usually docile nature, they got lax in their security and careless in their
precautions.
"One guard had apparently taken a liking to taunting the Prinny, trying
to get a reaction out of him. He got one all right, a very explosive one. By
the time the others had heard the commotion and arrived at the cell, the guard
was dead and the Prinny was nothing more than dust covering the walls. The
entire base immediately went into lockdown mode as they tried to figure out
what had happened. They left the guard's body in the cell having no other
place to really deal with it.
"Imagine their surprise the next day when they approached the cell they
didn't find one body, they found two live Prinnies." This piece of news
shocked Sly so badly that he fell right on his backside. "I see you already
put the pieces together," she said with a smirk. "Prinnies just love to blow
themselves up because they're just fine the next day. And anyone they kill
by blowing them up revives as a Prinny as well. I don't think I need to
explain what happened to everyone else in the base."
"You were going to turn me into a Prinny?" Sly demanded, baring his
teeth.
"Didn't I already tell you they weren't going to kill you?" the Vixen
snarled, offended that he wasn't listening to her. "Besides, they can't kill
you anymore than they can blow this base up."
Sly cocked his head to the side as he stood up. He noticed that he was
spending a lot of time on his rear end; not the position he wanted to be in.
"I don't understand," he admitted.
"I didn't at first either. Everything I've told you to this point I
learned from the journals the last surviving scientist wrote before he too was
turned. When I first found this place, they rushed me too and I got pretty
singed. But even though it hurt worse than anything I ever felt, I was never
really damaged from the impact. From being hurled into a wall or doing a
header across the floor? Of course. But never the actual explosion.
"Eventually I managed to trap one and started to interrogate it. To my
surprise, the Prinny I'd captured was intelligent and answered all my
questions easily. It turns out that things are different in their home
dimension; there they can kill anything. But here, the energy they release
can only kill those that are evil, like the greedy, selfish bastards that
brought him here in the first place. If they had been able to kill you, then
you truly were the dark criminal that Interpol makes you out to be and I would
have been sorely disappointed. And because the energy is demonic in nature,
it can't affect inanimate or inorganic objects--"
"--Which is the reason this base is still standing," Sly finished,
catching on. "But why would he tell you this?"
The smirk on the Vixen's face widened into a pointed smile. "Apparently
I remind him of his boss back home, some girl named Etna I think. Besides,
their brains are hard wired to listen to any forceful female voice. Too bad
the scientists that used to run this place were all chauvinists as well. And
since the original one now follows me, they all do. Isn't that right?" she
barked at the Prinnies.
"Yes Dood!" the Prinnies all chorused, snapping to attention and
saluting her.
The Vixen nodded and pointed to the door. "All of you get out of here
now! Back to your rooms!" The Prinnies saluted again and ran from the room.
One of them moved a little too slowly for the Vixen's liking so she walked up
behind him and kicked him out of the door with a boot to his tail. Sly dove
backward and covered up to protect himself from the expected blast. But all
was quiet. "Huh?" he asked, looking around in confusion.
The Vixen smiled as she approached him, twirling her white and platinum
cane casually. "Oh, did I forget to mention they only explode when they hit
something, not when something hits them?"
Sly rolled his eyes and started to circle the Vixen cautiously, looking
for an opening. "So this is it huh?" he asked as he slid a step to his left.
"This is it," the Vixen confirmed, matching Sly's moves with her own.
"Everything before now has been nothing but foreplay. We've been at this game
for quite some time now Sly Cooper; it's time for the real fun to begin."
"But how do I know this isn't another trick? For all I know you're just
another lackey playing dressup."
The Vixen vaulted up to a thin railing that circled the room and slid
along it expertly. "Do you think I'd let any of my lackeys learn these
moves?" she taunted, tossing her cap at Sly and making it explode before it
touched the ground. "Don't worry Ringtail, I'm your one and only. And it's
time to see just how well I measure up against you." She used the hilt of her
cane to nudge her mask, shifting it ever-so-slightly so that it conformed
better to her smooth feminine visage.
"So come on then," Sly beckoned. "Let's see just what you got." He
leapt for her as she leapt for him, both their canes flashing as they brought
them together in simultaneous overhead swings.
TO BE CONTINUED (
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