PLEASE REVIEW! AND SIGN THE PETITION THAT'S THE FIRST LINK ON GOOGLE WHEN YOU SEARCH 'Continue Ripley's Bureau of Investigation Novel Series petition'. And if you're wondering why the second target is the pair of talons unlike in the second game, I've decided to not do that order and do it by going upwards of Clockwerk's body, and there is a possible surprise part in the next chapter, meaning the gang will have two.

Chapter 3: Betrayal and Breakfast

I should've known bringing Wylleighina 'Wily' Cheshire along was bad idea, Bentley was right; Wily shouldn't have been trusted. All she wanted were the tail feathers, of course Wily wasn't dependable, she was a born con artist and experienced thief. No wonder people don't trust me or the gang. I discovered this when returned to our safe house in Sydney, the video connection between Bentley and us was turned off, and the rest of us were fast asleep. Or at least that was what I thought. I was sleeping soundly in my bed, until my ears perked up and heard a small metal clash outside my room. I carefully climbed out of my bed and grabbed my cane, sneakily tiptoeing through the hallway and into the living room/kitchen and found Wily about to climb out of the window. She pushed the lower sash of the window up and without delay a computer across the room turned on with Bentley's fully awake face.

"Aha! I knew it! Look, Sly! She can't be trusted!" Bentley shouted, his voice booming through the speakers, "Co-con genius, indeed. Your feeble mind, Wily, was sloppy enough to not notice the window's motion detectors I sent to the gang!"

I sighed and walked out of the shadows as Bentley unknowingly gave away my position.

Wily spotted me with a smug smile before I stepped forward, "Hey, Sly. You're awake, so you haven't been killed. That's good, I guess." She slipped back into the room and leaned against the window's frame with her arms crossed and her grin wide, "Sure, Bentley, I have a feeble mind. Whereas all the brilliant motion detectors do is turn on the computer screen to show a hospitalized turtle, no laser or robots to stop the thief from escaping."

Bentley stuttered for a while as he tried to come up with his answer, only to have spluttered out, "Shut up."

"Despite that," I shook my head, "Bentley is right. You tricked us, didn't you?"

She raised an eyebrow, "Of course I did. Tricking is the whole concept of a con."

"A con?"

"Yes, a con. You want me to say it slowly. Cccooonnn."

"So the sniffles and the sobs?"

"Acting. I was upset that jackass has my dad, but I needed some sympathy to make you think I wouldn't do something like this."

"What about the tears?"

"Crocodile tears, more sympathy. I never thought those reptiles would be selling them now."

"And the whole 'please let me have the tail feathers' speech with the innocent expression?"

"Again, acting. To have you feel empathy for me and make you want to help me, therefore bringing me closer to the tail feathers. And pretending to be reluctant before I ditch you."

"But what about when you got rid of Carmelita? You could've done that deal for real and snatch the tail feathers?" When I asked that, Bentley had his own smug smile and arms crossed.

"Don't, Bentley." Wily glared at him and continued with her explanation, "I know that, but I needed to earn your trust so you could take me to the safe house where you'll be asleep and I can steal the tail feathers in peace. I say it was one of my best cons yet."

"Wily, your entire plan only consisted of charisma and a Trojan horse strategy, it's simple and laughable!" Bentley spat out harshly.

Wily didn't flinch, "Meh, all in all I believe the whole plan went quite delightfully."

"This shouldn't have been such a surprise," I growled, "All you Cheshires do is complicate everything with cons and DOUBLE CROSSES. It's dishonourable and frankly not very exciting. I mean, I actually felt sorry for you and I really wanted to help get your dad back, but you're nothing but a sleazy backstabber."

"Sly."

"Yeah?"

"You're an idiot."

"Again, harsh."

"Well, you are. Pop and I do use meticulous and consistent scheming which may involve swindling as we are con artists, in order to not get caught. Not to mention our way is classy. While you, however, with your roof jumping and rail sliding is not thievery but noticeable stunts for your adrenaline addiction. I'm surprised you weren't caught years ago. Plus, I don't need your help to find Pop and steal the Clockwerk parts. I heard about the Clock-la job you did months ago, somewhat a disaster."

"At least you said 'somewhat'." I was still annoyed.

"I can do it on my own as I'm a better thief."

"No, Wily, you are not."

"I have the tail feathers in my paws and you don't. I think that says otherwise."

"Oh, please. Being undetectable, which includes running along roof tops, is a huge part of being a thief, and dropping one of the feathers doesn't help. So I'm the better thief."

"I said 'a better thief', not 'the better thief'. Kind of big-headed of you, don't you think?" She shrugged and put a leg through the window, "I have to go. I don't want to miss my flight."

I pulled her back in with my cane and flatly said, "You're not leaving until I have the tail feathers. I'm not gonna let you give them to someone who could rebuild Clockwerk."

Before Wily could start speaking again, we both heard Bentley quietly singing a triumph song 'Wily's in trouble, oh yeah, Wily's in trouble'. Together, we took a peek at the computer screen and saw Bentley a dance that looked like he was stirring a huge pot of soup. Once he saw us looking at him, he stopped. Wily had the courage to say to him, "Good, thanks for stopping." And she turned back to me, "You're going to regain your pride as a thief by acting all macho and snatch the tail feathers away? You know what that is? That's mugging, the sloppiest kind of thievery there is. Pathetic."

"I haven't snatched them away from you…yet. What's pathetic is that you're crawling on knees and surrendering to him by giving him the ultimate weapon."

"Cooper, I don't like the idea of this as much as you do. But if your dad was still alive and he was captured by this same Mister Jackass Mysterious on the tape, would you do the same thing?"

Wily did sound sincere and made me feel I should let her go, but I knew better that it was just another trick, "Wily, nice try."

She coyly beamed and happily wagged her finger, "Dammit. You're sharp. I respect that."

"So you respect me as a thief then?"

"Oh, God no. Can I leave now?"

"No, are you going to give me the tail feathers?"

"No."

"We're just going to go back and forth on this, aren't we?"

"Yup. What are we going to do?"

Bentley pitched in unhelpfully, "Whack her with the cane to hurl her out of the window!"

Then an idea occurred to me, "Okay, how about this. We go with the original plan-"

"I hate it already."

"-this time I'm not doing it because of empathy, which I no longer have for someone as dishonourable as you-"

"Fair enough. I'll file that as a compliment. Keep going."

"-but I am doing it to keep an eye on you, making sure you don't screw me over AGAIN and make your way out with the Clockwerk parts.- "

"And what makes you think I'll stay with you?"

"-I'm getting to that. I'll make you Co-Brains of the heists after the Clockwerk parts-"

"WHAT?" Bentley screeched on the top of his lungs.

I paused my proposal to whisper to Bentley, "Bents, you have strategy and science smarts, but you're in the hospital. Wily has knowledge of cons, street smarts, resources every right man has, and is here. You two as Co-Brains. As much as I hate to say this, Wily could help out. You two can plan and she can take care of everything you need for those plans as she is here with us. Plus I need ALL eyes on her to make sure she doesn't run off again."

Bentley grunted, but nodded.

Wily stroked her chin, "Tempting. It would sure to annoy the crap out of him."

Bentley grunted again, louder, "It is, in fact, right now!"

I continued with the proposal, "-and pay you 11 million."

"How about 13, instead?"

"12."

Her look of consideration was clear that the deal was done, "Fine. It might help get my dad back. This is actually like old time, you and me bickering."

Bentley wasn't too excited about the last bit, "Oh shit."

The next thing we know, all three of us heard the fridge being closed and we saw Murray holding a large sandwich. He was about to take a bite of it, till he saw us and said slowly, "Awkward."

The stinging sunlight peeping through my bedroom window blinds woke me up; I was incredibly tired from last night. Don't get me wrong; I'm used to being up late for heists and I love the night, but every time I wake up in the morning, my body feels like it's made of extremely heavy metal. I sluggishly brought myself off the bed and exhaustedly collapsed back down.

"Wakey! Wakey! Rise and shine!" Murray cheerfully bellowed.

I was so tired; I ended up sleepily muttering, "Sly isn't here right now. Please leave a message after the beep. Beep."

"Come on, Sly. Breakfast is ready and The Murray is hungry," He tried to convince me, only to have decided on a different approach, "Fine." He picked me up and carried me over his shoulder. I didn't bother to say 'put me down' and came out with a yawn instead.

Murray carefully placed me in one of the wooden chairs surrounding the matching table in the kitchen, and where a small bowl of stale cereal and a carton of cold milk. The safe house appeared a lot livelier in the morning than last night. The windows brought in all the bright sunlight they could and amazing view of clear blue sky Sydney despite the lack of colour city lights from the night before. The TV was on; playing an episode of Darkwing Duck, I immediately assumed it was a rerun as the show finished in 1992. And across from the TV was a sofa with Wily eating her cereal.

"Morning, Sleeping Beauty." Wily quipped without looking at me and munched on her cereal.

"Good, you're still here and so are the tail feathers." I started pouring my cereal in the bowl.

"Hey, I'm only in it for the money and for Pop," she said with her mouth full, "So I don't take credit or checks. Just plain cash."

I was about to retort when something crashed into my cereal bowl, out from the box. I looked down at it, it was a video tape. It certainly wouldn't work if I poured in the milk first and then the cereal. Either it was a cereal box prize much better than a toy decoder ring, or another video tape from Tom's kidnapper. Obviously it was from the kidnapper. Right then, the computer screen turned on automatically with the video feed connected again, showing Bentley's face again as he chewed on some sort of food he thought was disgusting by his grossed out face.

"Morning, my amicis…and Wily." Bentley greeted.

Wily glowered at him, "Wow, Bentley. That's really clever and funny. Saying a line every TV show had done. That's not at all cheesy. By the way, saying 'friends' in Latin still doesn't make it ."

Bentley glowered back, "Sarcasm is the cheesiest and most simple-minded form of wit."

"Then whoever ELSE was using sarcasm was doing it wrong." She grinned, shutting Bentley up.

After a small silent pause, Bentley changed the subject, "As I learnt recently, hospital cuisine is repulsive, malodourous, and nauseating."

"You could just say it sucks instead of using all those big words." I shrugged and pulled out the tape.

Bentley carried on, holding up a plastic cup of greenish brown slop, "I mean, look at this! This is my breakfast! What is this? Pudding? Mouse? Snot? I just hope it's not crap." He was about to complain some more, yet we all noticed Murray was on another guilt trip from hearing his criticisms, sadly stirring his cereal around. I'm pleased Bentley tried to reassure him, "But, Murray, it's very comfy here. Really. And the food isn't that bad, look." Bentley dipped a spoon into the plastic cup and reluctantly slipped the slop into his mouth, and spat it out straight after. "See…ugh…delicious."

"Really, Bentley? It's delicious?" Wily said teasingly and slowly, "Then take another bite."

I knew Wily was only trying to torture Bentley, and so did he. However Murray didn't notice and Bentley had another taste, "Thank you, Wily. I'm sure I'll express my gratitude by giving you some of this…yummy food when I get out of the hospital."

"Oh, joy." She grumbled.

"Hey, guys," I announced, "Our little friend has brought us another video tape."

Wily snatched it from my grip and glided it into the VCR, "This jackass must be such a penny pincher to not be using DVDs. Or holograms. Holograms are cool."

"Like in Star Wars!" Bentley chirped.

"Star what? You mean that cliché filled shit."

Bentley was frighteningly quiet for a minute or two, and shattered the silence by saying grimly, "Sly, get her out now…and whack with the cane again."

"Bentley," I sighed, "I'm not going to kick her out just because she doesn't like Star Trek."

"Star WARS! We've been over this!" groused Bentley, "I supposed you're right. You fell asleep during the first film of sheer genius and I didn't kick you out. So if you're not kicking her out, are you at least going to hit her with your cane."

"We'll see."

The sixteen year old black cat pressed a few buttons on the VCR and the TV screen changed from the cartoon of a white duck in a purple superhero costume to the mysterious real life silhouette with the disguised voice from yesterday night that made my blood boil, "Good morning, Wylleighina. It is a pleasure to be briefing you again, and I am delighted you risked your pride to have the Cooper gang assist you or viser-versa, all to have your greed fulfilled with cold cash. Bravo." The silhouette cheerfully clapped.

How did that bastard know Wily was with us? I thought deeply to myself.

The silhouette slowed down his claps until he was finished and continued on with the briefing, "Congratulations on getting the tail feathers, and on your attempt of betraying the gang, now that's ruthless and I approve. Anyway, the next target is the pair of Clockwerk talons, now owned and carried by Cutthroat Crew member Vendetta Clandestine. Right now she is in her Milan mansion, preparing for her private soiree to present her fashion design company's new season line with small fashion show. I'm sure with your reputation, along with Mr Cooper's, you won't disappoint me. And you don't want to disappoint me…especially with your father with me." And the video finished off with static snow.

I peered down at Wily, thinking she would actually do the things she pretended to do after seeing the first video, like crying or sniffling. Apparently, she did none of that and mumbled, "A fashion show? I might as well dip in cyanide into this cereal."