A Thief's Honor [Book 2]

Ch.18 A Cold Alliance

"Alright gang, it's come to the difficult conclusion that my demolition skills to get into the Cooper/Vixen Vault aren't going to be enough." Bentley said to everyone.

"So then what are you suggesting we do?" Rae asked.

"There is one person we could ask because he's far more experienced with demolition, but...one of you might not like it."

"Just spit it out already, Bentley." Sly said, sounding impatient.

The turtle sighed, his eyes flicking over to the raccoon for a moment. "Everyone, the person we need to join us is...the Panda King."

The raccoon froze before clenching his fist. "No way, not gonna happen." He flat out refused.

"Sly, we don't have a choice. My demolition skills aren't going to be enough and the Panda King is far more experienced with thi--"

"I don't care!" Sly barked. "Or did you forget about how that monster broke into my home as a child, killed my parents, and stole my family book?! We'll just have to find another way because there's no way I'm letting him join the team. The answer is no."

"But, Sly--" Bentley tried to get out.

"I said no, dammit!" The raccoon shouted. "I don't care what it takes! I'm not letting that monster join this team! Not now, not--"

Slap!

"Ugh!?" Everyone suddenly gasped when out of the blue, Rae had got up and just flat out slapped Sly across the face, clearly upset.

"Sly, a word, now." The fox said sternly as she grabbed his wrist, practically dragging him into her room.

After closing the door, she forced him to sit down on the bed, arms crossed with Sly gripping his still burning cheek. "Why did you just--"

"You know why." She cut him off. "You can't just go off on Bentley like that the way you did just because you're upset. He's trying, and if there's something he isn't capable of, then there's nothing we can do about it. Now then, explain to me why you're not okay with this."

"I thought I already did, in front of everyone, if you didn't notice..."

"No, you went off on a wild tangent in a fit of anger, you didn't explain anything, big difference, sweetheart." She said, but sarcasm was clearly evident in her voice.

The raccoon sighed. "He was one of the people that broke into my house when I was eight and killed my parents before taking my family book... The Panda King was the forth member of the Fiendish Five; he had a large fascination with fireworks, but when he showed some nobles his fireworks, they turned him down because of his shabby clothing. Because of this, he became angry, further developing his fireworks, which he then used to destroy anything he didn't like. I managed to take him down to get parts of my book back before going to face off against Clockwerk, the final member. The Fiendish Five recruited him as their demolishions expert, and I had to stop him so he would stop burying innocent villages in the snow with his fireworks... It was because of his dark intentions back then that I can't trust him, so of course I'm going to lash out when it comes to someone like him."

Rae gave a sigh this time, uncrossing her arms as she crouched down in front of him. "Look, Sly, I can understand you're unhappy with this -- hell, I wouldn't want to work with the people who killed my parents either -- but I have done it before. I worked with the Klaww Gang undercover, even though they were the reason my parents were murdered. And whether you like it or not, we need the Panda King on our side right now, because he's the only one who can do what Bentley can't on his own."