//------------------------------// // The Hidden Trap // Story: Dressed to Steal // by Tatsurou //------------------------------// As I headed back to meet everyone at the hideout with the Clockwerk Talons, I thought we had it all in the bag. The plan I'd set in motion with Jean Bison would get us aboard Arpeggio's blimp with none the wiser, and we'd be able to put a stop to the assembling of Clockwerk without any further trouble. I couldn't have been more wrong. When I reached the hideout, I found everyone else facing someone we'd have much preferred to have never heard from again... As Coco reached the hideout with the Clockwerk Talons in her bag, what she saw froze her to her spot and put her in a battle stance. Sly, Carmelita, Bentley, and Murray were facing off against Neyla, who stood a good distance away with a smug look on her face. "You..." Coco growled as she moved to stand with the others. "Oh, and now the family of criminals is all together," Neyla cooed playfully. "You're one to talk!" Carmelita growled out as she gripped her pistol tight. "Oh I know," Neyla countered in an almost seductive purr. Her predatory gaze locked on Coco. "And if not for your actions, everyone would still be ignorant of it, and I'd be right where I'm supposed to be at the head of Interpol's criminal investigation division. But no, you couldn't just play to the script, could you? Everything would have been so much easier if you'd just been a good girl and let the grownups take care of things, but your little stunt with the golems and the Contessa's confession put me on the run!" "Good!" Coco snapped back angrily. "If anyone deserves to suffer, it's you. After what you've done-" "Oh shut up!" Neyla interrupted derisively. "You're just a little girl playing in a game much too big for you. Actions like yours have consequences, little pony, and yours are about to come home to roost." Without warning, she lashed out with her whip. Before anyone could blink, Murray was between her and Coco, the lashing end of the whip clutched in one closed fist. "You don't get to hurt Coco," he growled out, his deep voice booming with rage. "Not on my watch." "And just what do you think you can do?" Neyla taunted, twirling her end of the whip. "You don't have the turtle's brains, to outsmart me. You don't have the fox's weapons to take me down. You don't have the raccoon's skills to keep up with me. And you don't have your little pony's magic to change the rules of the game. You're just the dumb muscle. Why don't you get back behind the wheel until the ones with the brains tell you who to punch." "I don't need to be told who to punch!" Murray roared out, lunging forward. Neyla's eyes widened in shock as she leapt back, barely avoiding the first punch which powdered the stone outcropping she'd been standing on, only to be jerked back by her grip on her whip towards a second devastating punch she barely dodged by pulling herself over it. Releasing her whip, she bounced off Murray's head as she leapt to a safe distance. "What did I tell you?" Neyla taunted, putting her hand on her hips in an almost seductive pose. "Just...dumb...muscle." "I'll fucking kill you, bitch!" Murray roared out, his eyes almost glowing red as he lunged for Neyla, only for her to leap away again. "I'll rip you apart! I'll..." As he almost managed to grab her, his breathing started to get heavy. "I'll...I'll..." He suddenly let out a pained groan as he clutched at his belly. "Murray!" Bentley and Sly both gasped out in fear as they rushed to his side. "He's burning up!" Bentley gasped out as he checked his vitals. "And his heart rate's skyrocketed. It's nearly three times the healthy maximum." "What did you do to him?" Carmelita roared out as she leveled her pistol at Neyla. Neyla simply smirked. "What I said about consequences. Everyone at the prison was fed specially altered spice with their food, to make them more susceptible to Contessa's hypnosis. It also enhanced aggression, as I'm sure you know. However, there's something rather unique about that side of the spice. It stays in the system until activated, one way or the other. If it's activated - by hypnosis or rage - soon enough after consumption, it washes out of the system harmlessly. But if it builds up too long, as long as it has for Murray...it puts the systems into overdrive. If the counteragent isn't introduced over the next few hours...he'll burn himself out." Coco's eyes widened in fear, and she rushed to Murray's side, desperate to try and help him. "You wouldn't have goaded him into this if you didn't have the counteragent," Carmelita stated flatly. "You're too motivated by self interest to be that suicidal." "Quite correct," Neyla purred. "And I'm willing to provide it...in exchange for all your Clockwerk parts. Both lungs, the stomach, the half of the heart, and the talons." Sly, Bentley, and Carmelita exchanged worried glances. "Sly..." Murray gasped out. "D-don't...it's too dangerous..." "...we can always steal them back," Sly stated firmly. "But you can't be replaced." Receiving confirming nods from the others, he turned to Neyla. "Deal." Smirking, Neyla handed over an IV bag. "Hook him up to this. It's already set up to give it to him at exactly the right rate, and you'll see effect in the first ten minutes. Of course, interrupting the treatment is instantly lethal...and Carmelita's not the only one with a pistol. If I don't have the parts - and I mean all of them - in fifteen minutes, I'll splatter the bag, and you'll never find or produce another sample in time." We had no choice. We stuck to the deal, and Neyla got away with the remaining parts. Admittedly it wasn't as bad as it could have been, since we were heading to Arpeggio's base next where the parts were going in the first place...but the blow to morale was enormous. Murray remained in a deep funk as we waited for Jean to come tell us everything was ready, blaming himself for Arpeggio even having a chance to assemble Clockwerk. My focus, however, was on Neyla. She'd taken my family, and then she'd used my Uncle as a bargaining chip. I would never forgive her...