//------------------------------// // Thievius: Haiti // Story: Sly Cooper: Family of Thieves // by Blackdrag-rose //------------------------------// After defeating Muggshot, and claiming his portion of the Thievius Raccoonus, Gilda and Derpy carried Sly through the air as they searched for where Murray parked the van, as there was a chance he could have moved it since he went racing and claimed a Treasure Key earlier, but fortunately he happened to be in the same place. Once they joined back up with their friends Murray turned the engine on and moved them away from Mesa City, allowing Carmelita the time to lock up Muggshot and his goons and begin the necessary paperwork. Sly, Gilda, and Derpy spent a few hours memorizing the new pages of the Thievius Raccoonus, though when Bentley and Murray found a good place for them to practice their skills in peace they took the chance. The techniques they really committed to memory was Tennessee Kid Cooper's Rail Walk and Rail Slide, as when they picked up Rioichi's Ninja Spire Jump technique from Raleigh's safe it proved to be the one they needed for Muggshot's base... so, by that logic, Tennessee Kid Cooper's techniques would be the key to getting inside Mz. Ruby's base in Haiti. Once they had a decent grasp of the Rail Walk and Rail Slide techniques, as well as the other ones that they had acquired from Mesa City, the siblings returned to the van and Murray drove off into the distance, making sure to put some distance between them and where Carmelita's forces were located. The five of them decided to relax for a few days and made their way to Hollywood, where they did some sightseeing as normal tourists, and even dressed up in such a manner so no one would be able to figure out that they were members of the Cooper Gang. During their time in that area Sly decided to make off with the golden stars from the Walk of Fame, which would end up being sold at some point in the future, before they went somewhere else in the city and relaxed, since their next target was going to be tougher than Muggshot. Gilda and Derpy, on the other hand, decided that the beach was the best place for them to really unwind before they went to Haiti and began the search for Mz. Ruby, as there had to be some truth to Muggshot's parting words. During their stay in Hollywood they found a newspaper that detailed Carmelita busting Muggshot, saving Mesa City in the process, and mentioning that she had missed a mysterious group of figures in the process, which had to be the three of them... though they simply chuckled as they folded the newspaper away and returned to what they had been doing a few seconds ago. When the three of them were well rested, and so were both Bentley and Murray, the group headed back to the van and began the trip to Haiti, though while they did that Sly pulled out the police file they had grabbed and turned the page to the information on Mz. Ruby. According to what he and his sisters read Mz. Ruby had been born into a family of mystics, something they really didn't have experience with at the moment, and that the other children shunned her because they found her to be scary, though it didn't help that she apparently showed the kids dead creatures when she first met them. Of course their opinions on Mz. Ruby instantly changed when they discovered that she had taught herself how to summon the undead, providing her with the new friends she had when she was a young kid, which meant they really had to be careful around her. From that point it was a collection of what was known about the adult Mz. Ruby's actions, revealing that she was the chief mystic for the Fiendish Five and that her powers allowed them to break the laws of man and nature at the same time... and that, despite her success, she managed to slip into obscurity as she vanished into the Haitian jungle. Sly and his sisters glanced at each other as Murray drove them to the area that Bentley was directing him to, because it appeared that Mz. Ruby was going to be even stranger and tougher than either Raleigh and Muggshot, in her own way, and that they needed to be careful when they entered her base... because there was no telling what sort of dangers awaited them this time around. A few days later Murray finally arrived at the outskirts of Mz. Ruby's base of operations, where he spun the van around and pointed the back at the path, allowing Sly, Gilda, and Derpy to climb out and touch the ground that was in front of them, though this time they closed the back of the van the instant they were outside. "So, considering that Mz. Ruby had problems with people in the past, what sort of enemies do you think we'll be facing this time around?" Derpy asked, as she recalled that Raleigh's guards had been mostly sea based and Muggshot's had all been gangsters or criminals, making her wonder what they were up against. "I guess the undead... and potentially the creatures of the swamp itself," Gilda replied, though at the same time she knew that all three of them didn't know what to think about the fact that their next target could summon the undead and break the laws of both man and nature, as they didn't have something to counter that. "Bentley, surely you don't believe what's in Mz. Ruby's file?" Sly asked, as before they moved forward, and left the van behind, he wanted one more opinion on what they would be facing, because he was sure that this was going to be a tough adventure for all of them, even if Bentley and Murray were safe in the van. "Sure I do. My scanners have picked up verifiable paranormal activity." Bentley stated, revealing that there was more out there than what they originally knew, something that they would be encountering in the near future apparently, to which Sly sighed for a moment, "Sly, just be careful while you three explore Mz. Ruby's base... I have the uneasy feeling that your target already knows we're here." Sly seriously hoped that Mz. Ruby had no idea that he, Gilda, and Derpy were here, but based on what they had read about in her file, and the supposed feats that her 'magic' had done, he had the feeling that Bentley might be right, which made him turn away as he joined his sisters. Of course, before they actually moved forward, all three of them noticed a rather large mosquito patrolling the area in front of them, though instead of saying anything they knew that Mz. Ruby was either behind this mutation, or it was natural and never before documented. The siblings crossed over the lily pad that was in front of them, collecting the clue bottle that was resting on it, before they reached the area the mosquito was in, to which they slammed their canes into it and knocked it into the water around them. At the end of the area that the mosquito had been in they found a vine that was perfect for using the Rail Walk technique, to which they took turns walking across it and jumped to the next platform that had a large mystical statue... as well as two more clue bottles and a vine that allowed them to use the Rail Slide to move forward. At the end of the vine they jumped off and landed on a large branch of a tree, with a large enough area for them to land on and a bottle resting to their left, before jumping off of that and landed on the second branch in front of them, where they fought off the large black spider that wanted to block their way. From there they used a trio of vines, separated and yet headed to the same location, to reach another branch that was closer to the water, though Derpy, who brought up the rear, jumped off earlier and claimed two more bottles before joining her siblings, who had fought off two spiders so they could access the area in front of them. After that they found a trio of mosquitoes that were patrolling the area between them and the bounce pad that was behind them, to which the siblings rushed forward and fought off all of the mosquitoes before they accessed the vine that was above them... and claimed the bottle that happened to be attached to it with a rope. From there they used the vines to slide through the area, accessing some bounce pads along the way, before they reached a wooden vine that they had to walk along, where they smashed their way through the spiders that were in front of them before they reached a tunnel that headed towards the area above them. That was when they learned that there were more creatures than spiders and mosquitoes they had to worry about, as when they collected the two bottles that were in the tunnel the creature at the end of the tunnel came to life, revealing a wooden creature that angrily stared at them and it rushed them. Despite the fact that they were caught off guard the trio discovered something interesting, the wooden creature appeared to be extremely brittle, as a swing from each of their canes was enough to shatter it into a thousand pieces, opening the way forward. At the end of the tunnel they found another clue bottle, which they collected, before they jumped onto the vines and walked around the path that they had formed. That brought them to the top of the structure that the tunnel was built under, where they found two more of the wooden creatures that wanted them dead, to which the trio carefully smashed their way through the wooden creatures and cleared the area... allowing them to claim the bottle that was resting in a dead tree and a trio of them that rested off to their left. Once they had the bottles in the area they jumped onto the branch that was at the end of the area and discovered a gate like structure in front of them, one that had some actually people patrolling the area, to which they carefully jumped down into the area that was below where they were standing... where they spotted an actual person, a skinny rat that was wearing a voodoo mask and carried a voodoo staff, guarding the gate. Fortunately there appeared to be a way around the voodoo guard, as they had to climb up onto the walkway and silently inch their way across the path, though as Sly and Gilda did that Derpy claimed the clue bottle to her right before joining her siblings, who knocked out the guard before they stared at the actual entrance to Mz. Ruby's lair... after claiming the clue that the guard had been protecting. "It would appear that Mz. Ruby is more clever about where she's stored her Treasure Keys," Bentley commented, to which the siblings used their binocucoms and stared at the same in front of them, while at the same time listening to what their friend had to tell them, "more than Raleigh and Muggshot were. From the looks of things it appears that the key you need, in order to open the main gate to her base, is being protected by a mad mojo force field, which is being powered by five candles. Fortunately, according to my research, these are hard to make at range and the candles will be close by, meaning that you should be able to get the key if you smash the candles and disrupt the magical energies that they are channeling at the moment." "One Treasure Key coming right up." Gilda said, though this time around she turned towards Derpy and shook her head, indicating that flying should only be used if the guards noticed them at some point, before the three of them walked down into the area before them. Sly carefully maneuvered himself around the area, like Gilda and Derpy were doing, and ignored the bottles that were around him, because he was sure that the noise might alert the voodoo guards, though he knocked out the guards that he came across. While he did that he noticed his sisters doing the same thing, as their guards fell to the floor as well, before he smashed the candles that were near him and gathered the clue bottles that were near him, where he noticed that the remaining four bottles for this area, according to what Bentley said anyway, were all around them. Once they had all of the clue bottles the three of them gathered near the Treasure Key and grabbed it, before carefully making their way towards the vault that was off on the right side of this area. Sly then approached the tumblers and listened as Bentley informed him that the code was 5-8-8, which allowed him to open the vault and recovered Kelle McCooper's notes on how to harnessing the electromagnetic field to create a barrier of sorts around them when they rolled, though that turned the Raccoon Roll into an offensive technique if they used it in such a matter. From there they approached the main gate and unlocked it, allowing them to enter the main hub of Mz. Ruby's base of operations, though as they walked into the area, and took in the sights around them, what drew their attention was the massive skull shaped structure, made out of twisted wood, off in the distance... though as they stared at the are that Mz. Ruby was in both Gilda and Derpy shuddered for a moment, but they had no idea why they did that. "It looks like we're going to have to go through that Skull Temple to get to Mz. Ruby," Sly commented, to which he made sure that they were connected to Bentley for a moment, whose readings no doubt confirmed that their target was in the massive structure, "Bentley, have you found the areas that the other Treasure Keys are resting in?" "Yes, and I have projected the markers for all three of you." Bentley replied, letting them know that it was time for them to get their operation underway, especially since they were going to have to split up to get all the keys in this part of the base, before they were allowed to move forward. Sly nodded as he lowered his binocucom, as he and his sisters were more than ready to deal with everything that Mz. Ruby had built into the area that was her base, so she could keep the Treasure Keys safe, and they all knew that this was going to be an interesting experience... especially since they never encountered someone like Mz. Ruby before today.