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Thievery Comes in All Sizes

"Are you sure your intel is right about this... what was the name again?" Carmelita Montoya Fox.

"Yup," Sly Cooper, or just Sly, replied on the seat next to her. "Bentley is positive 'The Ant' is going to strike at the Canterberry Museum in two days. His objective? The Necklace of the Goddess' Tear," leaning in a bit against his companion and fiancee, he smiled. "Huh, he has good taste. Did you know I tried to steal this one at one point but a certain foxy lady caught my attention instead?"

Carmelita blushed before pushing Sly away. "Sly, focus. I don't have time to deal with your flirtatious nature right now."

Sly grinned. "Hey, Lita, what do you say if I steal it instead? I bet it would beat the ring you're wearing~," he teased, lovingly nuzzling her.

"Oh, don't you even try it! Do I have to remind you how much it cost me to let you off the hook!? And that's not even counting how hard it was to convince my superiors that you were no longer a lowly thief?" She said angrily but nevertheless returned the nuzzle. "Besides, if you were to steal it, I'd have to arrest you... and I would never use the necklace anyways. It may be beautiful beyond comparison, but this simple platinum ring is invaluable to me."

Sly chuckled. "And I'm the helpless romantic?"

Carmelita shrugged before turning to kiss his cheek. "You're just too charming, dear," returning her attention to the screen before her, she pointed at it. "We can flirt all we want when we're done. How does Bently know where The Ant is going to strike next?"

"A pattern," with a few clicks of the mouse, several other locations sprung on the screen. "See? The Ant attacked these places and only stole one key object. Now, what do all these objects have in common?"

Carmelita studied the screen for a few seconds until her eyes widened. "The gems... why is it always gems, crystals, or a piece of experimental technology?" She sighed. "So, why does The Ant want these gems?"

"No idea. Bently hasn't figured that out yet, though I think it's just for the sake of stealing or filling up some sort of collection. I mean, the things I 'borrowed for an extended period of time' were like trophies," he replied with a smug smile.

"And I'm so very glad you generously decided to return them to where they can be safeguarded, you lowly, thieving, slippery rascal," Carmelita replied before returning the gentle kisses and sweet caresses her lover was giving her. "So, what's your personal take on it? You're the best heist master, the greatest thief in the world, and the luckiest raccoon I know, Sly. What do you read here?"

"Hmmm, well, not much, really. Which is odd. If The Ant wanted reputation, he'd flaunt his success. If he was a mercenary or a hired thief, he wouldn't be as spotty or easy to track, he'd try to cover his actions more. He's also not doing it for the thrill or the challenge, otherwise, he'd have a calling card or even challenge the police or the Interpol, love."

"Oh? Now you're assuming the Ant is a he?" She asked, amused.

"A woman wouldn't be nearly as sloppy and there would be more elegance in her assaults," Sly replied before kissing and licking Carmelita's neck lovingly. "You taste so good I could eat you up, Lita~"

"Focus," the fox said with annoyance.

"Right, right. Okay, so, The Ant, what does he want? I don't know. Why is he doing it? I don't know. But if I had to take a wild guess here, I think... I think he may be practicing, honing his skills more than anything else."

Now that got Carmelita's attention. "So he's just toying with the authority!?"

Sly shrugged. "Pretty much."

"...Sly, we're going to capture this bastard," she stated flatly.

"Of course we are, Lita. Now, let's go to bed, please? I'm dying to cuddle up with my sexy vixen fiancé," the raccoon pleaded, nuzzling her neck and shutting her laptop's screen down.

"Justice and duty never sleep, Cooper," Carmelita replied while she let her boyfriend help her up and guide her to their bed. She shuddered with joy at the thought of having her once arch-rival and the world's greatest thief turn a new leaf, all because she asked him to.

"Uh-huh, right, well, I don't know about you, Lita, but I am ready to hit the sack," he let out a yawn right as they began to lay down on the bed. Pulling the covers over them, he hugged his lovely cop close to his chest while resting his muzzle against her neck. "Love you, Lita."

And yet, his greatest heist was stealing my heart, she thought, smirking. "I love you too, Sly," no longer able to fight off her need to sleep, she closed her eyes. "We'll... discuss what we're going to... do tomorrow..."

Darkness took them both moments later.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

-Canterberry Museum-

The Ant watched the museum she was about to assault and rob carefully from a distance. Everything she had managed to gather regarding it was as it should be. The guards were doing their rounds at the appointed hours, and the blueprints were accurate.

"This should be a piece of cake... I hope. I keep counting two extra personnel," she muttered to herself before removing her mask, revealing the gorgeous face of a lioness. She was wearing a body glove that hugged her fit, curvaceous body like a second skin. Her muscles were evident, her slim figure a testament to her skills, and her face showed nothing but determination even if a hint of doubt could be seen in her eyes. But then it was replaced by bravado and a cocky smile. "Heh, this will be my greatest heist yet! I may not be the legendary Sly Cooper, but I'll show the world that he ain't the only thief around, and better yet, I'll do it solo and right under the noses of everyone!"

Boasting and pumping herself up for the challenge, she put on her mask again and observed the tridimensional schematics of the building, her focus going straight into the two figures that had not moved from the chamber that housed the precious Necklace of the Goddess' Tear. The price of that necklace alone would ensure her to live a life of relative luxury for the rest of her life and put to shame every other piece she'd stolen in preparation for this job.

Setting a grappler onto the side of the building's roof she was standing on, she descended to the street quite easily. Retrieving her gear, she began to move between the shadows, nimbly approaching the museum with patience. Checking her clock constantly as she approached, she reached her target with time to spare near one of the outer perimeter sentry spots. Then, she waited. It took only a couple of minutes until a lioness guard stepped into the view.

"Just in time~," she muttered to herself as the guard took her post. Approaching swiftly, The Ant covered the guard's mouth with a hand and then injected something against her neck. The muffled groan of the guard died quickly as her eyes dropped and then closed. "Shhhh, rest, dimwitt. Once you wake up, I'll be long-gone~" she said as she dragged the guard away, concealing her between some bushes. She then stripped her clothes and put them on in under a minute. Taking off her mask, she concealed it inside the cap and put it on, walking to the post she needed to fit.

Minutes passed slowly for The Ant, but eventually her half-an-hour watch ended and, just as she had studied, so did the guard's outside shift. She just had to wait for another minute until a large panda approached her. "Shift change, Vivian. Get your ass inside."

"Finally, I was freezing my tail out here," The Ant replied the usual response of the lioness and doing a perfect imitation of her voice. As she walked off, the panda called out to her.

"Wait, Vivian... you look different tonight. Did you grow a few inches or something?" The panda asked.

Dammit it! I thought this would be easier since I could easily replace a guard just to get inside! The Ant growled internally before turning to the panda with a tired expression. "Are you sure you can do your shift? You must be tired if you're starting to see things."

The panda pondered for a moment, but only for a moment before breaking into laughter. "Ha-ha! Maybe you're right! They work us to the damn bone, amma right?" Turning away, he waved a hand. "I'll catch you later, Vivian. Get your ass inside and get a coffee. Them Interpol hoity bastards are keeping an eye on that new exhibit," he let out a laugh. "Man, I hope they're here trying to protect it from the likes of that ring-tailed thief, Sly Cooper."

The Ant felt a pang of irritation at the mention of the most famous thief. Of course, she wasn't planning on becoming as famous or even try to surpass him, but it was still a sore spot for her that everyone immediately thought of him for every damn little thing that got stolen around the globe.

Although, I also thank him. Without him and the fact that most of these knuckleheads think all thieves are males gives me an edge over all of them. They never see a female coming~ She thought with smugness, all previous irritation and anger having evaporated in favor of fueling her ego. She was about to continue walking when she realized something. "Wait... did you say Interpol?" She asked, turning to the panda. "Are you sure about that?"

The panda shrugged. "Hey, what else could they be? You were late today so you didn't watch them arrive. I swear they swept the exhibition like ten times before they settled down. In any case, some shit is about to happen, Vivian. Mark my words, we may even see some damn action tonight!"

The Ant nodded, turned around, and groaned internally. Interpol is involved in this!? But how!? I made sure to cover my tracks and leave no evidence behind! How the actual hell did they know I was planning on striking today!? She asked herself as she made her way inside the museum, barely remembering the protocols the guards used and thankful that there were no biometrics involved in their security procedures.

Walking past the entrance of the museum, doubt struck her. "Maybe... I should try another time... If Interpol lapdogs are here, then this could end badly for me...," she muttered to herself as she entered the break room. Thankfully for her, no one else was present.

She pondered the option of simply aborting her mission, but that possibility was rudely shoved aside a moment later and discarded entirely. "No. What am I worrying about? They won't even see me coming. I'll steal the damn necklace right under their noses, and escape! Everyone will know that the Ant did it, but no one will ever find me!" She whispered to herself, clenching her hands tightly and feeling the rush of adrenalin flow through her body.

Taking a moment to make sure she wouldn't get interrupted, she quickly took off the clothes she had borrowed and set them aside, hiding them. Putting on her mask, she quickly unholstered the gun resting above her tail and aimed it at herself. Pulling the trigger, her senses were scrambled in an instant. The dazing effect lasted for a few seconds, if that, but when they returned, she watched as the entire room slowly expanded around her.

Seconds passed quickly until the Ant found herself shrunk to the size of a regular fly, maybe even slightly smaller. Checking her gun, she found it only had another shot left, the one that was reserved for the necklace. Securing it again, she watched her wrist clock and nodded. "Two hours until the effects wear off," she said out loud to ease her nerves. She had done it several times already, but it was always jarring to be so small and vulnerable. "Heh, but the advantages are more than worth a bit of risk."

Checking the rest of her equipment proved everything was in order. Her hooks, grapple launcher, in-suit glider, climbing claws, emp grenades, and glass cutters were all present. "Good, now, there's a necklace I need to steal."

Sneaking out of the break room proved to be an easy affair. She stuck to the corners as she advanced. A few guards came and went, no one bothering to look down or even aware of her presence. It took her around ten minutes to reach the entrance to the main exhibition and found, to her dismay, that the doors leading inside it were completely sealed off and locked behind a biometric scanner. "Dammit! There has to be another way inside...," she said as she began to look around, her blueprint now providing an excellent guiding tool for her to locate a ventilation shaft that was connected to the necklace's exhibition room. "Hmmm, if I can get somewhere tall enough, maybe I could glide close enough to use my grappler and sneak inside that way. But there's nothing I can climb that's tall enough. I'd need a--a really tall and chubby bear!"

Grinning, the Ant watched as a bear guard walked down the hallway. Without hesitation, she ran to intercept him just as each heavy stomp of his shoes got closer and closer. When he was near her, she used her grappler to shoot up to the maximum range, barely reaching the knee of the guard. Climbing up his legs proved to be a difficult thing, but thanks to her climbing claws, she was sure to reach his knee in a few seconds. Then, she continued climbing until she managed to reach his cap.

Just in time, too, as she noticed she was approaching the shaft. The moment she was as near as she could possibly be, she jumped and pulled out the glider, gaining additional momentum and impulse in the process. She then shot her grappler once more and it connected to the shaft. Quickly, she pulled herself up until she reached the top. "Perfect entry," she muttered as the display of the air conditioning system came into view.

She followed it for several long moments until she reached the one that would take her down on her objective... and came to an abrupt halt. "You have got to be joking!" She said after staring at the obstacle in front of her for seconds that felt like an eternity.

There, right in front of her, was a reinforced sheet of metal combed in complex ways that prevented her from moving forth. Speechless, she walked up to it and tried to force it aside, but to no avail. "...Nothing short of an explosion would even do a dent on this thing. What the actual hell? Inerpol doesn't screw around, huh?" She sighed. "Alright... alright... think, just think... if I can't enter through the ceiling and the doors are inaccessible... then I just have to find a way to sneak inside," sparing a glance at her watch, she nodded. "I still have an hour and forty-one minutes left. Still plenty of time to get in, get the necklace, and get out."

With no other option but backtrack, she hurried to reach the hatch she had entered through and jumped down.

With her glider open, she made her way down slowly and swiftly. Looking for a proper place to land, she easily found it as a raccoon guard yawned just a few meters away from her. Gliding towards him, she easily landed on his shoulder and took refuge near his neck.

Looking up, she spotted an earpiece inside his ear. Before she could do or think of anything else, the raccoon ended his yawn and reached up to said earpiece with a finger.

"Yeah, Lita?" She heard him wince and had to grab onto his fur just to keep her balance. "Geez, okay, calm down, please? Ehem. What seems to be the matter, Inspector Fox?" Now that got the Ant's attention and listened intently to what he was saying. "Yes, I checked the security footage, made sure the guards were accounted for, and made sure all the alternative entry points were blocked. Need I remind you that it was I who placed the additional security measures?" Another moment of silence. "Of course. The Ant will never steal the necklace while we watch it. Heh, the Ant may not even show once they learn two Interpol operatives are guarding it."

The Ant waited for half a minute until the raccoon, now revealed one of the two Interpol agents, spoke again. "I'll be right there."

With that said, he moved towards the main exhibit room. She thought that he was going to enter, but her hopes were dashed away when he stopped outside and yawned again all of a sudden. "Whoaaa!" She yelped, taken off-guard by his abrupt movement. Without thinking about it, she reached out for anything to prevent her from falling.

Sadly for her, that something was the trimmed fur of the Interpol agent.

"Ouch! Dang cramps," Sly said as he brought a hand up to his neck.

The Ant could only stare as a giant hand, from her perspective at least, came over her. "Shit!" She exclaimed and jumped out of the way, narrowly evading the hand and its fingers at the price of now falling freely from the agent's back. Thinking quickly, she used her grapple hook to stop her fall, managing to hit the collar of the suit the raccoon was wearing. "That was close," she breathed out, relieved, before using her claws to climb up his back as quickly as she could.

She was about to reach the collar when the door opened. Driven by her chance to discover any form of slipping inside the exhibit and get her necklace, she closed the distance in record time, retrieving her hook in the process and arriving at the top in time to see none other than the famous Carmelita Montoya Fox herself step out of the exhibit.

The Ant let out a laugh. "I wonder if I should be honored or worried that they deemed me worthy of her attention!" Laughing away her nervousness, she watched attentively how the Inspector used her biometrics, a red-code, and a voice identifier to secure the door behind her. In theory, such security measures would be impossible to elude and many lesser thieves had been foiled by such contraptions.

"But I am not some no-name lesser thief," the Ant exulted herself. "Either you need a computer whiz and damn good tactics to even fool the damn thing... or you slip a ride with the idiot that system is attuned to and watch them fall~," once the Inspector was done, she grabbed on tightly to the agent's collar, not wanting a repeat of her blunder to happen again so soon.

Just in time, too, as the raccoon crossed his arms and took a more comfortable pose.

"You're worrying yourself too much, Lit--" he stopped when the vixen glared at him. "Inspector Fox, I believe you're overreacting. The security measures put in place by both of us will be more than enough to deter any thief short of Sly Cooper, and even he would find this one to be a pretty tough nut to crack."

Carmelita sighed. "That may be the case, Agent C., but I am not one to leave things at half-measures nor depend on luck or leave things to uncertainty. You of all people should know that by now."

Sly coughed, trying to hide a smirk (which he failed to do). "Oh, I know how thorough you can be, Inspector Fox... do we really have to be so uptight?"

Carmelita sighed. "When we're on missions, yes. You could use some growing up yourself, Agent C."

"And that's my ticket in," the Ant muttered to herself, now stopping to pay any real attention to their discussion. Making sure that she remained undetected, she waited for the perfect moment in which both operatives were distracted enough for her to jump with her glider ready for deployment.

She quickly maneuvered her way around the raccoon and made her way to her newest target, Inspector Fox herself. And that's when she heard it.

"-saying is that we could use some-- some-- soo-ooohhoooaaaaachuu!" Sly sneezed loudly and vigorously, barely aiming down and covering most of his face with one hand.

Unfortunately for the Ant, the path he unintentionally left open created a corridor in which the force of his sneeze encountered her at the worst possible moment. "AAAAHhhh! AAAAHHHH!" She screamed over and over again as she rolled in mid-air, trying desperately to regain control of her glider without success.

"Salud," said Carmelita, for the first time ever dropping some of her tough by-the-book attitude. "Are you feeling alright, mi amor?"

Sly used his handkerchief to blow his nose and nodded. "Y-Yeah, something got in my nose... funny, I don't usually sneeze like that without lion fur nearby."

Carmelita blinked, smirking. "You're allergic to lion fur?" She asked, not believing what she just heard.

"REALLY!?" Shouted the Ant in anger while she fought to regain control of her flight.

"Well, yes and no. I'm terribly allergic to lioness fur," he said before sneezing again without warning.

The power and direction of his second sneeze were, thankfully, mostly out of the way of the Ant, but either his aim was perfect and the damn raccoon knew she was onto them or she was incredibly unlucky that day. While it didn't hit her directly, the grazing hit of the gust of wind was enough to send her tumbling away once more, although not as bad as the first time.

Just when she was about to regain full control and hopefully land on Carmelita's forearm, she noticed a giant dainty hand heading her way at tremendous speed. She could hear the air displacing effect as it came closer to her. "SHIT!" She shouted before, at the last second, retracted her glider, narrowly avoiding being slapped into the afterlife. "AAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Damn mosquitos," Carmelita huffed. "Are you feeling better, Agent C.?"

Sly rubbed the tip of his muzzle and nodded. "Groovy, Li--Inspector Fox," he then chuckled. "Just my luck that one of the guards had to be a lioness, eh?"

"And yet she's not here. You have a strong sense of smell, mi amor," Carmelita looked around before quickly leaning in to kiss Sly on the cheek. "Once we get the Ant, I'll take care of you with some chicken soup back home, okay?"

"I love you more than I love my staff," Sly replied, quickly returning the kiss.

Meanwhile, near their feet, the Ant was trying to control her freefall. She couldn't reach her grapple hook as her arms were locked on the malfunctioning glider. "Come on you useless piece of junk, work!"

With only a dozen or so meters (to her) to spare, her glider came back online and she managed to pull up to safety. Good thing, too, since the pair of agents began to walk away... and she was in the midst of the danger zone. Gritting her teeth, she evaded their legs and moved out of the way with each step they took. She also couldn't slow down, but not because she was unable to, but because her only ticket inside the exhibition was through the Inspector herself, so losing her was not an option.

"Fuuuuck! Dammit! Fuuuuuuuck!" The Ant cursed again and again as she maneuvered not being squashed, trampled, or hit anything whilst following them. "At least I can keep up with them thanks to the air they kick back--DAMN IT!" Turning to the side, she avoided being hit by one of the raccoon's ankles.

That made her realize something crucial. Looking down for a split second just to confirm her suspicion, she huffed in frustration as she noted that she was slowly but surely losing altitude and soon would fall to the ground at quite a considerable speed. "Maybe too fast for me to work with...," she muttered to herself. Thinking quickly, she had no choice but to disable the security measures of her suit.

With a pained grunt, she reached for her grapple gun, aimed, and fired. The hook traveled true and hit with precision on the right boot of the Inspector, piercing through the leather and outside fabric to create a solid hold. "YES!" The Ant cried out in victory. "Now, all I have to do is hang on tight aaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

Her smile faded in an instant the moment Carmelita lifted her right foot and moved it forward. The force of the momentum, while not enough to cause any serious injury on the Ant's arm, was far greater than she expected it to be, instantly doubling not only her burst of speed but also the drag and tear effects around her.

Normally, that wouldn't be a problem. Her glider was designed to be able to work on winds over two hundred kilometers per hour. But the size difference coupled with the incredible strength of the giant vixen and being unable to reset the security locks of her suit resulted in the unfortunate loss of her glider.

She heard it shred and cry as the wind around her forced the delicate yet sturdy structure to turn into a pile of twisted metal, carbon fiber, and plastic. "Aaaaarrrghhh!" The Ant cried out in pain as the circuitry of her glider was left exposed and sparking. With no other choice, she unhooked the harness that linked her glider to the rest of the suit and let it go.

Giving it one last glance, she witnessed how the massive foot of the raccoon agent fell on the remains of her glider, shattering it into countless thousands of little pieces. Groaning, she turned her attention back to the front and to the rope that was saving her life and her ticket to steal the precious necklace. Through great effort, she began to pull herself closer and closer to the Inspector, managing to cover the five meters separating them before anything else could happen. Grabbing onto the edge of the boot, she breathed out heavily.

"With any luck... once the timer runs out, nothing but dust will remain," she muttered, handing to dear life while her arms trembled after her perilous journey to reach safety. Grinning victoriously, she held on tightly to Carmelita's boot while the vixen walked and she recovered her hook. Although muffled, she could still hear their voices now that she wasn't preoccupied with avoiding getting squashed.

"-the rest of the guards. Are you sure you're feeling okay now, Agent C.?" Carmelita asked.

"Yes, the itch is gone. Hey, tell me, what are we going to do now? I thought you said you weren't going to leave the exhibit until morning came?" Sly asked.

Carmelita blushed in return. "I know what I said. Unfortunately, there are neither bathrooms in there, and eating is forbidden outside the designated areas. Besides, I had to make sure you were doing your rounds properly. Once all guards are accounted for, I'll head back inside."

"YES!" The Ant shouted in victory while she climbed up the vixen's posterior.

Sly rolled his eyes. "You should've taken my advice and smuggle in your dinner. Trust me, the protection all those art pieces have is more than capable of fending off mustard stains, a little bit of oil, and breadcrumbs."

Carmelita gasped. "Are you telling me I should risk harming priceless artifacts just to satiate my appetite? Not to mention break the l-law?" She asked in a low voice, almost as if the very idea was anathema to her.

"You kinda already did by vouching for me, again, after my stunt," he chuckled. "But yeah, me and the boys had all our meals amongst priceless objects and not one got ruined," he barked out a little laugh. "Weeeell, if you don't count that one time a stain of ketchup got all over the Crying Cathedral painting."

"That was you, you absolute pendejo!? I had to take it to a professional to get it fixed! I had to pay it from my own pocket, and you know Interpol is stingy with their paychecks!" Carmelita barked in barely contained fury.

Suddenly, her stomach growled loudly.

The pair came to an abrupt halt while Carmelita blushed fiercely and Sly smiled from ear to ear.

"No.... nonononono! There's no need to eat!" The Ant cried out in protest before checking her watch. "Crap, I only have less than an hour and twenty minutes left! Go perform your duties and get me inside the chamber, you big-ass cow!"

"Come on," Sly commented, bumping his hips against Carmelita's, unknowingly nearly crushing the Ant in the process between their derrieres. "Let's get you something to eat."

"B-But my duties--"

"Can wait until you get some food inside your belly, Inspector Fox. Besides, there's no way the Ant will be able to pass the security systems without you," leaning closer, he stole a few sniffs and groaned in disappointment. "I can't wait till you smell like you again, Inspector Fox."

Carmelita sighed. "Why must I be so vulnerable to that silver tongue of yours?" She finished with a defeated shake of her head. "Alright, you win. But let's make it quick. Every second I spend away from the necklace is an opening for that blasted thief to strike. It's bad enough that my files are riddled with my failing against Sly Cooper, but to have a new and unidentified thief one-up me?" The vixen shuddered in disgust and anger a moment before Sly led her towards the guard's common area for a quick snack.

The Ant grinned. "I might even become your new arch-nemesis, Inspector Carmelita Fox. Sadly for you, I don't plan to do anything but live a good life after I steal that necklace right under your nose. And what's more, you're going to help me get to it!" The lioness laughed as she climbed up her jacket and soon found herself reaching the back of her neck. Now safely secured and protected by the abundant ponytail, she allowed herself a moment of respite.

Still, she grabbed tight when her carrier sat down. Peering from the side, she watched the raccoon pull out a pair of boxes from the fridge and placed them on the table. He sat across the table in front of his partner and passed her the larger box.

"Here you go, Inspector Fox. I made it just as you like it~"

The Ant could hear and feel the woman that was going to make her greatest heist a reality gulp in anticipation while her stomach rumbled with a ferocity she didn't expect could come from a fox. Curiosity got the better of her and she peered just a bit more in time to see her take off the lid of her lunch box and reveal a tall and juicy-looking sandwich. "Whoa... that thing must be four stories high... I think it has ham, bacon, beef, and I don't know what else. Is that salami?"

Seeing the tower of bread, meats, seasonings, and veggies mixed in made her stomach growl in turn. "Note to self, eat a sandwich like that after going back home," she said to herself while the Inspector raised the monument of bread to her mouth-level.

"Remember to chew, Inspector," Sly teased in good humor.

"Shut it!" Carmelita snapped before her stomach let out another rumbling noise. "Though I'm tempted to swallow it whole if I could."

"How much of a pig are you?" The Ant asked, surprised to find out that little secret of the prestigious Inspector Carmelita Fox. Then, before her very eyes, she watched the maw of the vixen open up to its limits; she could only imagine how that looked from the front, and then took a huge bite out of her meal. Ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, a few pieces of meat, lettuce, onions, and carrots fell from the edges as her fangs, teeth, and lips closed on the succulent sandwich.

Wiping her head back imitating an alligator, an action that nearly made her lose her grip, the Ant heard the pleased moans and loud munching sounds of the vixen as she chewed on her delicious piece of morsel. Crunching munch after crunching munch reached her ears followed by the pleased moans of the Inspector herself.

The raccoon, on the other hand, ate slowly, calmly, and clearly enjoying the sight of his companion delighting herself in her food. So much so that his joking attitude was gone in favor of letting her eat in peace.

"Say, Inspector Fox," Sly asked after swallowing. "How do you tolerate that decontamination protocol? Doesn't it make your eyes sting?"

"Decontamination room?" The Ant muttered while the vixen munched faster, wildly, in order to answer the question of her comrade. He did mention that he couldn't smell her natural scent, the lioness thought as panic grew inside her heart. Putting her nose against the orange fur of her unwilling collaborator, she sniffed her hard and deep. Her senses were suddenly overwhelmed by the stinging aroma of decontaminants and sterilizers. "GAH!" She screamed before breaking into a fit of hard coughing. When she managed to get a hold of herself, she had to rub her sensitive snout as the stinging pain faded quickly.

All in all, it was a thoroughly unpleasant experience.

"D-Dammit!" She coughed again. "Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! The decontaminates wouldn't be a problem if I was my real size, but if I get in that room like this I'll bite the dust for sure! I have no desire to asphyxiate today, thank you very much! GAAAAAGGGG!" She screamed in frustration. "Uuuuuffff... alright, think. J-Just think... there has to be a way to get around it, but there isn't because everything is locked and she has everything tied down to her biometrics!"

"I can't enter through the ventilation shafts thanks to that ring-tailed bastard over there. I can't dig my way through. I-I could break the glass, but then that would make the alarms flare and I don't have the time to locate the damned control room... that's assuming these bastards didn't change the systems and made them close-off or analogical. And I lost my glider, FUCK!" She yelled again, desperately trying to find a solution to her most unexpected predicament.

While the Ant was having a mental breakdown, Carmelita finally swallowed her first mouthful and spoke up. "You get used to it," licking her lips, she continued. "Not that you have a lot of experience with that, C."

"And you would be correct, of course. I hate those damn rooms," he replied before taking another bite of his meal.

The Ant, watching in frustration whilst the two agents ate, growled and snarled continuously now that her plans had been thwarted. "Come on, this is meant to be your magnum opus! There has to be a way to get inside that room!" She breathed out and punched Carmelita's neck, though she doubted she even felt it. Watching her take a second bite out of her sandwich, she blinked and her anger diminished. "Inside... if... if I can't let the decontaminants spray me, then... then what if I take a ride inside her body?" She gulped nervously at the prospect. Removing her mask, which would provide no protection whatsoever, the Ant scratched her chin and pondered her options for several long moments.

Checking her watch, now down by another five minutes, she groaned and then pulled out her shrink gun. "If I adjust it just right, I may be able to save up enough juice for...," she stopped herself, hesitating for a moment as the implications of what she was thinking came into play. "...Heh, what's the life of an Interpol rat compared to a life of financial security and stability?" Taking a breath, she stored her gun and mused over her next step. "Now... how do I get inside her body?"

"Inspector Fox, have you seen Vivian? I can't seem to find her," a boar guard asked.

His sudden appearance startled Carmelita who was in the middle of chewing her second mouthful. Her sudden movement also solved the Ant's conundrum... by launching her forward in the air.

"DAAAAAAMMIIIIIIIT!" The Ant crushed as she fell, but her trip was thankfully short when the soft bread at the top of the vixen's sandwich eased her landing. Quickly realizing where she was, she scurried to the edge and scurried in between a half-bitten salami, the bread, and a whole load of seasonings. "Ugggh, cucumber, really?" She said, disgusted, before setting inside her new hiding spot.

Outside, Sly answered for Carmelita, who was in no condition to talk. "The lioness guard, yes?" The boar nodded. "We haven't seen her, but I received confirmation that she registered her turn shift. She should be somewhere within the staff facilities."

"That's odd... we always eat together. Well, she must be busy with something. Thank you," with that said, the boar walked away.

Carmelita swallowed a lump of food that the Ant saw in full detail as it traveled down her bulging throat. "T-Thank you, mi amor."

Sly shrugged. "Eh, you've pulled my tail out of the fire plenty of times. It's only right that I return the favor."

Without warning, the Ant felt the grip of the Inspector tighten, further pressing her in between a piece of salami, ham, and yellow cheese. Her heart was beating hard and fast, her system was being flooded with adrenaline- "And I can't believe I'm actually doing this!" She screamed as Carmelita opened her maw aiming to take her third mouthful.

Her valor and bravado failed her when she saw the red, salivating, cavernous maw of the Inspector filled with gut-piercing, bone-crushing, chest-impaling fangs. One wrong move, one single moment of bad luck or bad positioning, and she could be nothing more than an odd topping in her meal. This realization struck ten times as hard since she was a predator; it was not a fun thing to contemplate nor consider. "Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. CRAP!" She shouted as she desperately tried to get out, but Carmelita's grip was far too strong for her to fight against, even if the borderline toxic amount of seasonings could act as some form of lubricant, where would she go? Without her glider she was a sitting duck.

With no other option but to push forth with her plan, the Ant managed to put on her mask once more and activated the night vision mode. Moments later her decision was proven to be a wise one when the fang-filled maw of the vixen closed all around her, otherwise leaving her in darkness.

"Gaaaaahhh!" The Ant groaned in pain when the jaws of the vixen closed completely. The bread, meats, and other ingredients threatened to crush her for a few moments before a guttural, rumbling moan of pleasure echoed all around her, rattling her senses.

It was only a second after the short-lived moan ended that the chewing began.

In this, the Ant was not surprised. She had observed the Inspector eating, but she had to admit the reality was much worse. "You may look like a total bombshell on the outside, but you're definitely not a lady!" She shouted, mocking the Inspector from within while her fangs and teeth descended upon her meal; slicing, piercing, crushing, pulping, and mashing everything that made her sandwich so delicious into a batter that she could swallow.

Or it would be that way if not for the seemingly ravenous hunger of the vixen.

The Ant moved from side to side thanks to the red, slurping tongue of the Interpol operative. She hardly had any footing, a fact that was made ten times worse given that she had to avoid getting too close to her fangs and teeth, avoid the moving pieces of food, and prevent alerting Carmelita to her presence. Although she was small, the feeling of something moving inside your mouth was something no one could miss. If that happened, she would be caught.

"F-Fuck... I didn't think this through. I can't hide beneath her tongue or on her cheeks. Maybe I could use my grapple to hang from her throat?" She questioned herself while constantly dodging pieces of food that the gluttonous tongue of Carmelita pushed to be dragged down her throat.

Every four of five chewing motions marked the descent of a good chunk of the sandwich. It gave her more space to maneuver, even if she was covered from head to toes in the chewed pieces of meat, bread, and not a small coating of mustard and ketchup.

"I'm running out of time here! I have to find a place to hide so that she won't detect me fast!" Looking around proved to be fruitless, there was nowhere she could hide that wouldn't result in her being found out quickly. Unholstering her shrinking gun, she gulped. "M-Maybe if I time it just right, I could get smaller for a short period of time and still have enough juice to shrink the necklace?" She mused over before looking at her watch, now nearing the one-hour mark.

Suddenly, a loud groan emerged from the depths of Carmelita's stomach and her cheeks inflated. Her mouth rumbled with a deafening 'Uuurrrrrppp' rumbling before the vixen spoke. "Sorry."

"AAAAAAARRRGGGHHH!" The Ant fell to her knees, eardrums ringing thanks to the burp and words of the Inspector. She was made painfully aware of how different the strength of the voice was inside compared to hearing from the outside. In her pain and dazzlement, she let go of her gun... and it slid gently to the back of the vixen's throat. "NOOO!" The Ant shouted, enraged, before thoughtlessly hurling herself in an attempt to catch it.

Just as her gun was about to fall into the dark, obscure pit that was the tunnel leading to the fox's stomach, the Ant managed to catch it, just barely clinging to the wet tongue and balanced dangerously between perdition and victory. She let out a short sigh of relief when all of a sudden light returned to the dark cavern she found herself in. Turning her head around, what she saw made her heart skip a beat.

A wall of seasoning-leaking bread rapidly approached and faster than she could react filled the maw of the vixen, leaving her no room to move... except in one direction. Using her grapple hook, she quickly aimed it at Carmelita's uvula and fired. Striking true, the rope ensnared itself around the base of the fleshy appendage. Then, the Ant jumped just as the first wave of half-chewed pieces of the sandwich were pushed down her throat.

Left hanging, she sighed in relief. Her moment of peace and safety, however, didn't last long. Carmelita began to move violently and soon enough she was trying not to cough. Her uvula contracted and the rest of her mouth spasmed as she tried to not spit back her food.

Fortunately for the vixen, her torment ended quite soon. Unfortunately for the lioness hanging for dear life, the constant contractions of the hanging ball of flesh were enough to undo the hold of her grapple.

"AAAAAAAaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!" She screamed as she fell down the dark pit. Or it would be dark were it not for her mask. As she descended, she could see with near-complete clarity the mucus clinging to the vixen's throat, she could see the muscles constricting, the vocal cords, and more as she fell through the, surprisingly, small and claustrophobic meaty tunnel she found herself in.

She fell more and more, occasionally bumping against one wall only to be violently bounced off and made to hit another side of the wall until, finally, a large opening made itself present and she fell into freefall once more. "FUCK! SHIT! DAMMIT!" She cursed vehemently when she realized (and lay witness to) that she had entered the fox's stomach in full.

Using her grapple hook again, she aimed at the first wall she saw and fired. That action alone saved her from falling into the lake of gastric juices, but not without a price. A big slice of ham and onion fell right on top of the cable while she was mid-swing. The abrupt encounter broke the tension of her rope, disrupting her swing in tandem. She groaned as she was abruptly flung across the area of Carmelita's stomach.

Her trip was short as she hit one of the viscous, mucus-covered stomach walls, splattering all over before she slowly began to descend. Shaking her head, she used her left hand to dig into the flesh of her walls while her right gripped at--!

Widening her eyes, she turned to see her right hand was empty. Looking back, she was on time to see her grapple hook fall into the lake of fuming acid, fizzling upon contact followed shortly by a large piece of bread, sinking it to the depths.

She couldn't curse nor lament her loss for her grip over the slippery flesh of the vixen's stomach pushed back against her strong grip. Frowning, she used both hands and squeezed as hard as she could, but to no avail. The flesh wasn't pierced despite the sharpness of her metallic claws. "What in the--? It's like I'm trying to take a grip over rubber! I-I can't get a good grip! H-How the hell am I going to climb out of here?"

Watching more and more pieces of sandwich fall into the lake of acid, the amount of the noxious gases increased and the volume of the acid also expanded, slowly but surely cutting off any available space for her to move. There was nowhere she could land on that wouldn't be submerged in acid in mere minutes, at best. "The mucus should protect me for a little while, but it wouldn't be enough... oh fuck, fuck, how the hell did this heist turned out so wrong!?"

Fear began to take a grip over her heart while she tried and failed to grip onto the meaty walls of the vixen's stomach.

Suddenly, driven by desperation, an idea popped into her mind. "Screw the necklace!" She shouted, reaching for her shrinking gun. "I'm getting out of here! Fuck you, Inspector Fox. I'm sorry, but I ain't losing my life today and less so in this way!" She shouted angrily before aiming the gun at herself, ready to manually regrow to her real size.

Suddenly, a rumbling made her pause. Looking around, confused and panicked, she noticed that the large accumulation of gases was growing exponentially faster. She could even see the compression effect take place as it ascended faster and faster. A gooey, meaty, squelching sound caught her attention and she saw the mouth of the stomach open widely.

The rumbling increased in power and then, suddenly, erupted.

The force of the expulsion of gas was so strong that it snatched her up, up, and away. The Ant also lost the grip of her gun, but she didn't care. Smiling widely, she laughed hysterically. "AHAHAHAHAHA! I'm getting out of here!" She chanted in victory. Watching her gun disappear past the stomach's opening, she prepared herself to climb her way out of Carmelita's body.

She was less than a meter away from her freedom and survival when the unthinkable happened. The opening closed off right before her eyes. "Huh?" Was all she could mutter before impacting the soft wall of flesh at neck-breaking speed. The fleshy seal absorbed the impact and the Ant remained glued to it for several long seconds.

"No... nonononoNONONONONO!" She began crying out when she slowly began to fall. Using her claws to force open the hole or take a good grip proved fruitless. Anger took over her senses and she began to claw her away out, but to no avail. The flesh was too soft, too smooth, too rubbery and her attacks merely bounced off without doing more than tiny scratches.

Without a means to prevent her fall... the Ant stopped her struggling the moment she started to fall back into the lake of acid; a look of bewilderment and fear adorning her masked expression. She didn't shout as she fell nor when she landed on a large piece of bread. The Ant laid there, motionless, for what felt like ages before she sat back up and looked around her.

There was nowhere to go, nowhere to escape. The bread she was using as a boat was slowly fizzling; fading and dissolving away while the rest of the temporary islands of bacon, beef, ham, lettuce, onion, and tomato shared the same fate.

Removing her mask and throwing it away, she could hear it fizzle and break as it got consumed. Without it, she couldn't see more than a faint reddish glow all around her and the lines of green byproduct gas of the acid burning everything around her.

"It's not fair... It's not fair... f-fuck you! FUCK YOU, CARMELITA FOX! I hope you get indigestion, you bitch!" The Ant shouted in defiance. She continued to shout and shout until the acid reached her. Thanks to her coat of gastric mucus, the acid didn't eat away at her immediately and she got to experience the unique feeling of swimming in a large pool of acid. Taking a look at her watch, the only source of light remaining, she saw that a little under fifty minutes remained before her time ran out and she grew back to her full size.

Feeling dizzy as the acrid, pungent smell of the acid gases filled her lungs, the lioness smiled. "Heh... it doesn't matter..."

Closing her eyes, she drifted to sleep just as the acid began to eat through the mucus and her unprotected fur.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"--UUUURRRRRPPP!" Carmelita snapped her mouth close after her loud, out-of-left-field burp finished. Her cheeks were bright red and her sandwich was long gone. Looking at her fiancé, she was fully ready to hear his playful jokes and mocking jibes at her expense.

She didn't expect him to hit his chest, though. "BBBBUUUUUUURRRRRPPPP!" Sly let it rip with the same intensity as Carmelita's involuntary burp, smiling her way after he finished. "Whatever you can do, I can do better, Inspector Fox~"

Still blushing, Carmelita cleaned her lunch box with a napkin but smiled nonetheless. "I don't know if I should shoot you, punch you, arrest you, or kiss you, you sly charmer."

Sly shrugged, extending a hand to retrieve the used napkin of his girlfriend. "I'll take the fourth option, if that's alright. Sounds to me like the most pleasing one," standing up, he put everything else with the trash before rubbing his belly. "Well, I'm full now. How about you return to watching over the necklace and I take care of the rest?"

Carmelita nodded, switching back to her 'serious and pr mode. "You do that, Agent C.. No matter who the Ant thinks he is, he'll never get anywhere near that necklace under our watch."

Sly nodded and soon the two left the room.

Unbeknownst to them, however, a tiny gun was swept away with the rest of the trash. The last legacy of the Ant, buried and forgotten.

The End.