I say "Carmelita, we've been at this for four hours and haven't found anything."

Carmelita says "I know, but there must be something here."

A thought comes to me and I say "The only place we haven't checked yet is the vault, maybe what we're looking for is in there?" as I start to head over to that location.

Carmelita nods and she says "I heard that it looked strange to the forensics and detectives."

I say "How so?" as I enter the vault to quite a sight, there's money and open security boxes all over the place and I say "I see what you mean." as I take a few more steps into the vault.

I start looking in each of the breached boxes and the dirty money covered in boot prints and dirt, I can even make out some jewelry with Carmelita doing the same thing on the other side.

Carmelita says "Who breaks into a bank and doesn't take any money?"

I say "Someone who isn't looking for wealth.", I start look more closely at the boxes and I see one part of the wall doesn't have it's boxes touched and there's a large gap going into the wall with another gap about five feet away on the same wall, I look across the room to the other side and I don't see the same thing, I pull out a flash light and I start looking into the gaps.

Carmelita comes over and she says "We may have interrupted them, but it looks like you found something." with a slight smirk.

I say "From all the media I've seen, there may be a secret door here." as I switch over to the other gap and start looking.

Carmelita says "I think you watched too much television."

I find a small switch, with my pointer I flip it, a loud pop sounds as I pull away and the portion of wall goes into the floor, I look at the vixen with a smirk of my own as I ready my rifle just in case and I say "And played a lot of video games."

Carmelita readies her shock pistol and I take point, the steps are done in a spiral fashion, low-power lights are on the walls with their bulbs being directly blocked but there is enough light to see where we are going. After what seems to be about six stories worth of winding steps we reach the bottom with only the same lights dotted around, I flip a nearby switch which causes an over hanging light to turn on, revealing a rag-tag workshop of some description with some parts scattered about.

Carmelita says "Hmm, whatever was here it looks like it was moved.", she glances and she says "Looks like some kind of tunnel access."

I find what looks to be a burned blueprint but some of the text survive, I read it out loud "Magnetic Coil Induser, Shock Drive System and some very complex math I can't make out.", I look to Carmelita and I say "I guess someone was doing a science project."

Carmelita looks to be in thought for a few moments and she says "Hmm, what if the robbery was a diversion?"

I say "I hear what your saying, give the police some bait and sneak out what you want.", I take a look around and I say "But what could they store in here?"

The sound of an engine catches our attention and it's coming from the tunnel. I hear footsteps coming towards us for a moment but then the sound of something heavy hitting something just as heavy, I quickly tell Carmelita to get clear as I jump to the side and machine gun fire breaks out. I arm my launcher and fire, it hits the wall and explodes, it misses what's shooting at us but it reveals quite an odd sight, a renault ft tank.

Carmelita says "A tank?" in shock.

I say "Quite an old one, give or take a hundred years old!" as I quickly reload my launcher, I look to Carmelita and I say "That thing has thin armor, my launcher can knock it out no problem. The issue is they know that!" as bullets start flying more towards me.

Carmelita says "I can cover you!"

I quickly shake my head and I say "Wait for the reload! They need to stop sooner or later!"

The sound of squeaking treads starts up... and it sounds like they are coming our way. I look to Carmelita, I give gesture to tell her to get down as I get as low as I can in a kneeling position and I slide my rifle over to her. Carmelita picks up my rifle as I I ready my sidearm, the tanks creeps in front of me as it's turret tuns my way, I yell for Carmelita to fire, an explosion happens towards the back, smoke storms out of the engine compartment, I quickly run to the front hatch, I line my pistol to the vision slit and I fire into it until the whole mag is empty, I reload the magazine as I look towards the turret, Carmelita motions me to look at the side of the tank, I come around to see crimson coming from the back of the turret ring.

I put my sidearm away as I say "Hmm, I wonder what this thing was doing down here."

Carmelita hands me my rifle as she says "We could follow the tunnel of death." with a witty smile.

I reload the launcher and I say "I'll cover our right." while Carmelita readies her shock pistol.

As we walk past the ruined machine, I notice the machine gun is actually an m1919a4, so somebody switched out it's original weapon and given the tanks short operational range, I doubt we're now alone down here. We hear what sounds like another large vehicle, but it sounds bigger then the tank, we see the exit to the tunnel and we see an unmarked 18 wheeler with something being loaded onto it by some rats who are wearing that symbol that was on that grenade I pulled off from one of the robbers.

Carmelita motions to me, I nod as raise my rifle, we advance out and she yells "FREEZE!!!"

The rats look at us, but they don't raise their hands, instead they start laughing.

I say "Uh, did we miss something?" with a raised eyebrow, I hear something loud and it sounds like.... I yell "COVER!" as I shove Carmelita behind some rocks while I dive, I say "Fifty cal!"

Carmelita says "This place is a death trap!" as we try to lay against the rocks.

The machine gun stops and we hear "Hey cop hag, I see ya got a new partner! How's about you two pop out, I got some new guns to show ya!"

I say "You know this guy?"

Carmelita says "His name is Muggshot and he isn't bluffing. He normally wields two machine guns."

I say "Dual fifties? That's Impressive."

Carmilita says "They aren't that big, but they still pack a punch."

Something flies over us and smashes into the rock wall, it's an m2 heavy machine gun and it's now shattered from the impact.

I glance to the vixen as if saying 'Are you serious?'

Carmelita motions me to break right and to keep moving, I nod and on her signal we leap out and I see Muggshot, he looks like a pitbull but... his arms are freakin huge and each one is holding what looks like a cross between a browning automatic rifle and an m60 with huge drum magazines. I fire a few bursts to try to get his attention as I run towards the truck that's now starting to pull away.

I hear "You ain't gettin on that truck!", machine gun fire starts hitting the ground in front of me, I dive to the side and fire my launcher at in Muggshots direction and it misses him.

The dog aims both guns at me, I look and I see I'm a decent distance away from the cave and cover, I roll so I can get back up and start spraying bursts to try to suppress him. Muggshot leaps from the platform he's on, he lands in front of me with the shock wave knocking me back, he has both of his weapons aimed at me but I have my gun aimed at him, we both pull the trigger at the same time and no bullets fire. We both stare each other down, I guess we're both waiting to see who'll make the first move, I decide to make the choice and start to reload my rifle, Muggshot tosses his weapons over his shoulder and starts charging me. I become stunned instantly but my arms are acting robotic as my reflexes quickly try to finish my reload, an electroround hits Muggshot, I glance to see Carmelita standing her ground as she fires a few more shots but Muggshot uses his arms to leap over to a nearby truck.

Muggshot says "Been nice playin with ya, have a blast!" as he gets onto the trucks bed and it drives away.

Beeps slowly sound, we look up and we see explosive charges all over the place, we look at each other and start running as fast we can back through the cave, we start running back up the steps just as the explosives detonate, we fall onto the steps as dust swarms us.

I start to cough as I try to stand and I say "I wonder what's going on here." as I hold my hand out to Carmelita.

Carmelita takes my hand and I help her up, she looks at the cave and she says "I'll put a call out, in the meantime let's head back to the station."

We find ourselves back at the station, specks of rock and dust have my entire weapon jammed and I'm trying my best to clean it... all I can think of is getting an ak, but I soon figure it out and finish up. I put most of my gear away and enter Carmelita's office who's sorting some paperwork, I head over to the couch and start to fill out some paperwork of my own.

Carmelita says "The plot thickens it seems." as she looks over a file.

I say "Not only that, but now I'm concerned how far this whole deal is going.", I look to the vixen and I say "But, who is this Muggshot? He seems to be... a bit of a wrecking ball."

Carmelita says "He once was a crime lord but these days he's more of a mercenary, normally when he's hired it's always geared towards a large goal or job."

I say "If that is true... then what could this larger goal be exactly?"

Carmelita says "I don't know, but I think I might know someone who does.", she gets up and she says "Finish up your work and then we'll head out." as she heads out of the office.

I sigh and I think 'I really just wanna go to bed.'

I finsih my work and we hop back in the car and Carmelita starts driving, I'm fighting to try to stay awake at this point, after the exhausting encounter and having an extended shift. We come to an abandoned train yard, we get out and I start following Carmelita, with only my sidearm I don't feel too comfortable but Carmelita seems to know where she's going so I try to ease off. We come to a door where Carmelita bangs on a door and she says something in french, the door opens and it reveals the turtle that threw me that tommygun.

I think 'I don't know if it's coincidence or chance.'

The turtle says "Carmelita? What's going on?"

Carmelita says "We need your help Bently, something is going down and it seems my partner is at the center of it."

Bently looks at me for a moment and he says "Okay, come in." as he turns around he heads back in.

Carmelita and I head in with the door closing behind me with the soft sound of hydraulics, we soon come to a living area where a big pink hippo wearing a blue shirt and is lifting weights.

Bently says "Murray, we've got company."

The hippo stops, he sits up and he looks to us "Carmelita, fancy seeing you." with a light smile.

Bently says "Apparently there's more going on then we thought Murray."

I introduce myself to Bently and Murray and we fill them in on the situation with Carmelita even explaining our encounter Muggshot.

Bently says "Hmm, I checked some databases and I cross referenced some accounts, there was also a break in at the Interpol Storage Facility not too long ago."

Carmelita says "What did they take?" with a raised eyebrow.

Bently says "From what I gathered, whoever it was took the black box from the shuttle that your new partner arrived in."

Carmelita says "That's impossible, that was taken out just after the craft was salvaged and we couldn't fully access it. It should be back at headquarters."

I say "Could have been an inside job, but who the heck would take a black box of a craft where the data on it can't be read?"

Bently says "I'm glad you asked." with a smirk, he goes over to what looks like a super computer, he types a few commands and he says "One of my signal scanners picked up some information from some burner devices, it isn't much but as you guys can see, the lead points us to Ghent in Belgium."

Carmeita says "It's a start, thanks Bently." with a light smile.

Bently says "Given what's going on we'll meet you there, who knows what's going on with all of this.", he puts on a frustrated look and he says "Also I heard you have Penelope incarterated, any chance you can transfer her, her skills might come in handy."

I think 'The mouse? These guys know her?"

Carmelita says "That's quite a task, but I'll see what I can do.", she looks to me and she says "Pack your bags Adam, we're going on a field trip."

I smile and I say "Cool, I'll pack the marshmellows." trying be funny.

To be continued...