He set the timer for the detonation and retreated to a safe distance on higher ground to watch the upcoming explosion. The crypt was right at the bottom of a hill of snow that looked a breeze away from toppling into a miniature avalanche, and Sly was admittedly a little excited to see it. He was taking every chance at levity he could cling to while at this stupid palace, with its stupid owner, and the stupid decision Bentley had made to trust the goddamn Panda King.

So caught up he was in his momentary bitterness that he nearly missed the bob a familiar flashlight as Inspector Fox rounded the corner. Sly had only a few seconds to be surprised at her presence and wonder what lead had brought her up this far before she shined her light on the literal time-bomb of a crypt and that surprise turned to alarm.

There was no time to think. There was barely time to act. The thief launched himself off of his perch straight for her, hoping against hope to knock them both out of the blast radius. She was just starting to turn around at the sound of him when he slammed into her, sending them both tumbling, but before either could do anything else there was a BOOM that shook the ground and deafened his senses –

And then the world went white.

Sly woke up with a groan that quickly turned into chattering teeth. His entire body felt stiff and frozen from head to toe, and his head was still ringing from the aftermath of the explosion. When he tried to sit up, his vision swam so badly that it nearly made him pass out again.

“Oh. You’re awake.”

The sound of Carmelita’s voice broke through the fog in his senses and brought him right back to the present. He locked his jaw to stop his loud shivering and looked over towards the direction she’d spoken from. Sure enough, she was sitting just out of reach, holding her arm close to her chest and glaring daggers at him.

His heart jumped to his throat at the sight. “Are you hurt?”

“I am, no thanks to you,” she snapped, making him wince. “What the hell were you doing up here?!”

“Blowing up vampires.” The truth fell off his tongue easily, and not just because it often did around her. It was better to be honest when it came to pinning terrible crimes on terrible criminals.

“Uh huh.” Inspector Fox looked less skeptical of the idea of vampires and more skeptical of the idea of him playing vampire hunter. “And does ‘blowing up vampires’ involve this?”

She glanced around meaningfully, and Sly finally registered the rest of their environment. They were trapped in a narrow air pocket surrounded on all sides by snow, so cramped that there wasn’t enough room to stand or even get more than a few feet away from each other. The raccoon sucked in a worried breath through his teeth.

“Don’t try to break through it,” she warned him before he could even think of it. “I already tried, and the whole thing nearly came down on top of us. There’s no telling how much snow is above us right now, and I don’t want to risk suffocation if it falls.”

The thief swallowed. His whole body was shivering, now. “How long was I out?”

“Only a few minutes. I think you got hit in the head with a piece of whatever you were blowing up.” When he gave a meaningful, scrutinous look towards her cradled hand, she shook her head. “Happened when we were rolling after you tackled me. Feels more like a sprain than a break.”

Sly couldn’t help the way he visibly relaxed at that. Carmelita watched him like a hawk.

“Have you called your mercenary friends to tell them what happened?”

“No. My radio got lost somewhere in the avalanche.” This time, instead of glaring at him with obvious blame, she simply closed her eyes and let out a frustrated sigh. “Just my luck, huh? You’re finally trapped right in front of me with nowhere to go, and I can’t even call for backup.”

“Maybe not, but I can.”

Her eyes snapped open when he pulled out his binocucom, but she didn’t say a word as he started calling Bentley. The line rung for less than a heartbeat before the turtle answered.

“Sly! Where are you? Did you take down the last crypt?”

“Sure did, Bentley, but there were some, uh…complications.”

He pulled up the visual aid and did a slow scan across the tiny space, including Inspector Fox’s scowling face, then flipped it back around towards him. His best friend let out a string of words that were very complicated but probably very vulgar. Sly could tell he was in for a hell of a lecture about this later.

“Give us ten minutes max and we’ll get you out of there. Both of you,” he amended when Sly raised an eyebrow. “Just don’t do anything stupid until then, and leave your binocucom on so we can find you.”

“Roger that.”

The raccoon put the device back in his leg pouch and wrapped his arms around his knees, suddenly all too aware of the bitter cold making him shiver. Ten minutes was a long time to wait in the snow when you were only wearing a sweater-shirt and boots more built for stealth than snow.

As if sensing his thoughts, Carmelita let out an irritated huff and patted the ground beside her. Sly didn’t move an inch.

“You, uh…you sure?” He asked.

“I’m only offering because you’ll freeze to death before your gang shows up,” she said pointedly, shifting her weight to very obviously hide the way she was also shaking. “You can’t be brought to justice if you’re dead.”

A smile finally crossed the thief’s lips. “Of course, not. We wouldn’t want me to escape the consequences of my actions with such a pathetic way to go.”

“Exactly.” The word was hissed with as much conviction as possible, but he could still see the faint flicker of her own smile before it was quickly buried under indifference. “Now get over here before I change my mind.”

He did so.

“If you ever tell anyone about this, Ringtail…” she threatened as they huddled together, arms wrapped around each other.

Sly smothered his grin, partly because he knew she wasn’t bluffing and partly because her tail was curling around his seemingly without her conscious knowledge.

“Wouldn’t dream of it, Inspector.”