As Gilda, Derpy, Murray, and Diz headed back to the hideout, to rest for a few moments before the next stage of their operation, Bentley followed after them for a few minutes and left a minute later, carrying the RC-chopper that he had carefully stored away for this operation. With his device in hand Bentley carefully made his way into the palace grounds and used his sleep darts on the guards that were in his way, thus allowing him to reach the bridge that connected the guest quarters to the palace itself. From there he used some of the containers to jump his way up to the roof of the building that he had set his mission beacon to, before using a jump pad to reach the top of the tower that was next to him, which allowed him to get away from the guards that were patrolling the area. He noted that the guards that were now below him didn't have any golden pockets, as when he asked Diz where he kept getting all the loot he brought to him, to sell on Thief-Net, he said he got them from the pockets of the guards in the area, from the golden pockets anyway.
Bentley sighed for a moment as he tinkered with the RC-chopper and made sure that it was fully operational, as now wasn't the time for something to go wrong, because that surface-to-air defense needed to be taken care of quickly, just like he had asked Murray to take out the chopper quickly... though before long he opened the communication channel and established connection to the hideout, indicating that he was getting ready.
"Bentley, what's your status?" Gilda asked, as she had seen the communication light come on and had come over to make sure someone talked with Bentley before he started his mission, just like he did with everyone else that were off to complete the missions he assigned them.
"I'm in position with the RC-chopper," Bentley replied, to which he smiled for a moment as he flipped a switch and the propeller blades of the device started spinning, indicating that it was ready for takeoff, where he stood back and let the RC-chopper fly into the air as he began his search for his target, "all systems are go to neutralize their surface to air defenses. We're going to need free reign of the sky during the heist."
"Well, good luck and be careful." Gilda said, as she knew that Bentley needed some encouragement from time to time when he was in the field, though at the same time she said nothing about the fact that parts for an RC-chopper weren't cheap, because she knew that Bentley would take care of his toy.
"Hostile has been sighted." Bentley stated, seeing his target through the camera that was attached to the RC-chopper, where he primed the weapon system and chased after the car that was Rajan's surface-to-air defense system, which was already preparing it's first missile, "I'll let you know when I've taken out the target."
The moment the RC-chopper was near the surface-to-air defense vehicle Bentley carefully timed when he needed to drop a small bomb on his target and when he needed to rapidly turn to avoid the missiles that were coming after his device, which in turn caused them to detonate without harming the device. As he suspected the vehicle drove all over the entire palace grounds, the area around the hideout, and even one around the guest quarters, though the driver seemed to think twice about that when Bentley rained a good number of bombs down upon his target. From there it was a simply matter to carefully avoid the missiles, destroying them in the same manner as the first one, while carefully dropping a number of bombs on his target, which eventually caused the vehicle to catch on fire as it continued to move through the palace grounds... until eventually the driver got out of it and rolled off to the side as the vehicle exploded, though the look on the driver's face revealed that this was the only vehicle of it's kind that Rajan had ordered.
Bentley smiled as he switched the controls and the RC-chopper came back to the tower that he was standing on, where he waited for it to land before he stored the device in the container that it had been stored in, before he carefully descended the tower and started to head back towards the hideout... where Gilda, Derpy, Murray, and Dix were waiting for him with smiled on their faces.
"Nice flying Bentley." Derpy said, as she and the others had seen the RC-chopper flying through the air and that it hadn't taken a single hit while it was destroying Bentley's target, which meant that he had succeeded in his mission, as the smile on his face revealed his mood, "That jeep's out of commission and now we have clear skies for the heist!"
"Thank you." Bentley replied, to which he set the container down and returned to his seat, as there was more they needed to do before the operation could get underway, where he turned towards the rest of the gang, "With that jeep taken out the three of you will be able to fly without having to worry about being shot down... and it might make the final missions easier for all of us."
Diz, being the first one to react, nodded his head and headed out of the hideout, where he flapped his medium sized wings and took off as he headed over towards the area that the beacon was resting in, though as he did that he heard the sound of Gilda and Derpy taking to the skies as well. From what he could tell they were planning on helping him get the gems they needed for Bentley's saw, which was a good idea since they had no idea how much longer Rajan's ball was going to go on. With the ability to fly around the palace grounds now restored to them, as the guards wouldn't be able to do anything about them even if one of them were spotted, it didn't take them long to find the area that the mission beacon was bringing them to, which appeared to be a room that was guarded by a large heavy door. As Diz landed in front of the door, so he could get the mission briefing, both Gilda and Derpy landed on the roofs of the buildings around him, knocking out the guards while they waited for him to get started.
"Diz, we need to find a way to get Rajan's prize elephants out of their pen." Bentley said, reminding Diz of the fact that the gems he needed were actually attached to the headdresses of the very beasts that were behind this door, to which he rubbed the back of his head as he studied the door for a few more seconds.
"Well, I can already tell that I'm not going in through the front door, as that's not something any of us can open without some serious assistance." Diz replied, though as he started walking around the exterior of the building he spotted something beneath the steps, something that made him grin, "However, this hole beneath the steps can provide me with a way inside the building so I can get the elephants outside."
Bentley said nothing as Diz put his binocucom away, slipped his cane into the holder on his back, and crawled into the hole that he had spotted, where he carefully made his way into the area beneath the building and spotted some rats making themselves at home... though as he approached the rat, however, they scurried off and the elephants, apparently seeing them somehow, made some noise as they barreled through the door and left the building.
"Diz, I don't know what you just did, but whatever it was sure freaked out Rajan's prize elephants." Gilda spoke up, though at the same time Diz carefully turned around and started to make his way towards the hole he used to get into the area he was in, "They're now outside rampaging around the palace."
Diz removed himself from the area below the building that he had been in, dusted himself off for a few seconds, and then pulled out his cane, though as he did that he spotted the first of the two elephants standing nearby, though there was a look in his face that revealed that he had done what he set out to do.
"Wow, he sure looks spooked." Diz commented, looking into the crazed eyes of the elephant for a few seconds, as it looked terrified of the rats that had freaked it and it's companion out, forcing them to run through the door and start their rampage through the streets.
"A job well done, Diz." Bentley stated, as while he wasn't expecting rats to be the key to drawing the prized elephants out of their building, because he had several other ideas on how to draw them out, this made things much simpler for all of them, "Now comes what would generally be the hard part. I need you, Gilda, and Derpy to snatch the headdress jewels worn by both elephants. The jewels are firmly embedded, so keep whacking at them with your cane to knock one loose."
"Or we can fly up to them and simply steal the headdress as a whole," Derpy spoke up, as she didn't see a reason why they needed to use their canes to smash apart solid gold, because they could definitely sell them on Thief-Net when the operation was over and make off with a decent profit.
Bentley, clearly at a loss for words since he wasn't expecting one of the girls to come up with such an idea, said nothing as the connection between them and the hideout was disconnected, to which Diz smiled as he took to the skies and headed to the nearby elephant. When he arrived he already found Derpy hard at work removing the bindings that were keeping the headdress attached to the elephant's head, though he didn't bother to question how she was able to work on it without the elephant trying to knock them off. As such he headed to the other side of the headdress and started to undo the bindings on his side as well, to which the two of them carefully moved away from the elephant when it moved through areas that were too small for them to remain near it's head. Fortunately it didn't take them too long to undo the bindings and claim the headdress, along with the gems that were on top of it, before they headed over to where Gilda was working on her elephant.
Diz, holding the first headdress, watched as Gilda and Derpy fiddled with the bindings that kept the headdress on the elephant's head for a few moments, before eventually they knocked it loose and they carried it over to the hideout... where Diz did the same thing so Bentley had all six gems that were on them, but he then watched the rampaging elephants for a few minutes before the guards finally got them under control and escorted them back to their pen.
Bentley took some time to create the saw they needed for the heist, allowing the others to take a break while he was doing that, before he set the saw on the table and smiled, as it had been easier to create the item they needed than his original thoughts had led him to believe. Once the saw was ready he started up the projector and explained how the operation was going to begin, by him demolishing the palace's main bridge, which would cut off reinforcements from the guesthouse and hopefully distract the ballroom guards that were standing watch over the Clockwerk Wings. It was at that point that they would contact Sly, so he and Carmelita could understand that the heist was in motion and that it was time for them to dance, and hopefully the crowd would be transfixed by their tango. While that happened Murray, who would return to the control room for the winch, would lower himself into the ballroom by using the electronic winch and then start cutting the Wings free, before using the winch to make his exit. Once the Wings were being carried out of the palace by Murray, as he was the only one strong enough to carry them, Bentley stated that he would cover his exit with the RC-chopper... and once Murray crossed the drawbridge, thus securing the Wings, the gang would get back together, with Sly with them, and they'd leave Rajan to his fate.
Gilda, Derpy, and Diz were a little annoyed that there wasn't anything they could really help out with, but Bentley explained that someone needed to help him control the winch, just in case he lost control, and Diz jumped at the chance to help out. At the same time Bentley told the sisters that he would appreciate their assistance in destroying the bridge, as that would make things go much faster, to which Gilda and Derpy nodded their heads in agreement, as it was better than doing absolutely nothing during the heist. Once everyone knew what they were doing, and they were all ready to go, Gilda and Derpy carried Bentley over to the bridge that he wanted to destroy while Murray and Diz headed towards the building that the controls of the electronic winch was in. It didn't take them long to reach the bridge in question, while at the same time seeing that the guards were fully alert for anything and everything, to which they walked down the path that would allow them to reach the support structure of the bridge.
"Okay Bentley, Murray and I are moving into position." Diz spoke up, allowing the trio to hear him with their earpieces the moment he spoke up, while at the same time hearing Murray punch someone in the background, "How are you, Gilda, and Derpy going to demolish the bridge?"
"It doesn't take an engineer to figure out how to blow up a bridge." Bentley stated, though at the same time he pulled out one of his bombs and looked down at the bridge once more, as he knew what their targets were and didn't mind explaining it a little more, "We'll start by placing charges on all of the lower cleats. Once the structure destabilizes, those retainer rings on the upper cleats should pop right off, that will enable us to bomb all of the upper cleats... which will bring it all crashing down."
"Don't worry Diz, we'll be careful," Gilda said, to which she grabbed a few bombs from Bentley, a motion that Derpy copied, before the three of them jumped down into the lowest area of the bridge and started attaching bombs to the cleats that Bentley wanted to destroy.
It wasn't hard to destroy the lowest level of the bridge, as the nine cleats only required one bomb a piece before they were torn apart, but even as the second cleat was blown apart the trio noticed bits of the bridge were starting to shake themselves loose and rain on them. Not even a minute later the three of them headed up to the upper level of the bridge and watched as the lowest level shattered, the pieces raining down into the area below the bridge, before the three of them turned their attention to the level they were on. Interestingly enough the level they were now on required that they place two bombs on each cleat before one of them was destroyed, though between the three of them they were able to take out the eight cleats that were their targets. Once the final cleat was broken, and they were sure there wasn't anything else stopping the bridge from falling, the group moved out of the way and watched as the bridge shattered before their eyes, the fragments dropping into the abyss... while also preventing any reinforcements from coming to their master's aid, exactly like Bentley had planned.
"Okay Diz, the bridge is down." Bentley said, though at the same time he let Gilda pick him up, because at this point he had no other way of getting back to the hideout on his own, which was another reason why he had incorporated this into his plans, "We're heading back to the hideout so we can warm up the van, and so I can get ready to use the RC-chopper to protect Murray... now it's all up to Sly and Carmelita."
Even as Bentley said that Gilda and Derpy noticed that he had tapped the button on the side of his binocucom that was attached to the alarm that would tell Sly and Carmelita that it was time for them to dance and cause a distraction so Murray could get at the Wings.
Sly and Carmelita stood off to the side and observed the rest of the guests that had taken to the dance floor and found that Rajan either didn't care or he wasn't interested, like he only cared for a specific dance to be held at his party and he wasn't getting it. The only time his eyes had lit up was when Neyla's last partner tried the tango with her, but ended up failing within the first few steps and she stopped it, as it wasn't enjoyable for her, before heading to the refreshment table to calm her nerves. Sly was surprised that Neyla was annoyed because of her dance partners, but he simply stood near Carmelita as they waited for Bentley and the others to inform them that it was time for the dance to happen, so they could take the Wings from under Rajan's nose. In fact the two of them slightly paused what they were doing when they spotted some of Rajan's guards walking over to the 'Lord' of the palace, who glared at them for a moment and said nothing as they approached him.
The duo stood there as the guards spoke to Rajan, though as they did so Sly glanced up at the ceiling ever so slightly and spotted a familiar pink hippo preparing himself for the next stage of the heist, with a familiar hyena standing near him, to which he turned back towards Carmelita and pretended that he didn't see them yet.
"What!? The bridge is destroyed?" Rajan exclaimed, his anger and annoyance evident to anyone that was listening, which was mostly Sly and Carmelita at this point, to which he stared at his guards and tapped his staff on the floor, "Take all the manpower you need and look into it."
Sure enough the guards started to head out of the ballroom, so they could see what had happened to the bridge near the guest quarters, though at the same time both Sly and Carmelita heard the signal in their ears, thanks to the earpieces Diz had delivered to them earlier, and a smile appeared on their faces.
"It looks like Murray is in position." Sly commented, though he made sure to keep his voice low so that only Carmelita could hear him, while at the same time he came to the conclusion that whatever plan Bentley had come up with was doing exactly what he intended to do.
"And it looks like Bentley's little distraction did what he wanted." Carmelita said, as she was used to how the Cooper Gang operated and knew that this had Bentley written all over it, to which she turned towards Sly for a moment, "Sly Cooper, I believe its time that the two of us had that dance.
Sly's smile widened as Carmelita said that, as he had been waiting for this the moment Diz had given them the idea to use a dance to distract Rajan and his guests, to which he took Carmelita's hand and the two of them stepped out onto the floor in front of everyone, causing Rajan, the Contessa, Neyla, and the other Klaww Gang members to look at them. Once they were sure that they had the attention of everyone in the ballroom, and no one was looking at the ceiling, the two of them took up the proper stances for the tango and started dancing to the tune that the musicians were playing. As they danced back and forth on the floor, hearing some of the guests clap for them while Neyla crushed the glass she was holding onto in sheer anger at being showed up in a simple dance, both of them noticed two things happen; Murray had begun his descent towards the Clockwerk Wings and Rajan was deeply interested in them, indicating that he already liked what they were doing.
For the most part the two of them made it seem like they were simply enjoying their dance and weren't focusing on anything else at the moment, though as they danced Rajan's anger faded as he leaned forward to observe them and Murray disappeared behind the statue for a moment. Not a few seconds later the Wings moved and Murray started to head back towards the ceiling, holding tight onto the Wings, to which Sly and Carmelita continued their dance and made sure that everyone was focused on them and nothing else. Fortunately it didn't take Murray long to reach the ceiling and disappear with the Wings, indicating that he and Diz were making sure they reached the van with their prize, but both Sly and Carmelita decided to take a few moments and finish their dance, mostly because this was the first time they had done something like this and the actual dance they were doing was nearly finished.
"Sly, you dance quite well." Carmelita said, though at the same time the two of them moved into the final steps of the dance and stood in front of each other, so they could say goodbye for the moment, as she and the other cops had something to do once Rajan started freaking out.
"As do you, Carmelita." Sly replied, to which he raised Carmelita's hand and kissed it, making it look like he was the same gentleman that he had been attempting to be the entire time they had been here, before the two of them parted ways for the moment, after they got off the floor anyway.
Sure enough Rajan, no longer distracted by the dance the two of them had put on, noticed that the Clockwerk Wings were no longer attached to the statue and reacted in a vocal manner, before naming both Neyla and Carmelita as cops, to which the two of them started making arrests... while at the same time Sly grinned as he walked up the stairs and watched as Rajan fled his own party, as both his guards and the guards of the other Klaww Gang members were getting arrested. It was a shame that Rajan was going to get away, just like Jean Bison and Arpeggio were getting away, but at the same thing it was a good thing, especially since he was the only one that knew where the Clockwerk Heart was located. He followed the footsteps that the lord of the palace had left behind for a few seconds and noticed that they went into the jungle that was near the structure, giving him an idea where to find the tiger in the near future. Once he had that in mind he slipped into the crowd and disappeared as the guests ran from the ballroom, though he eventually slipped away from those people and walked into an area where Gilda and Derpy were waiting for him... to which the two of them grabbed onto him and spirited him away to the area the van was resting in, where they left the palace behind with the Wings resting in the back of the van.
With the heist over, and Carmelita freed from the majority of her duties, since she was supposed to book people like Dimitri and Rajan, the entire gang took a break and headed for Bollywood, where they planned on celebrating their success before heading after their target again. It took some doing, from both Sly and Carmelita, but they managed to sneak Murray onto the set of a full-blown Indian musical, giving him a moment to unwind as the rest of the group relaxed as well. They all knew that Rajan was still out there, and even Secretary Sen sent Bentley a message asking if they would be tracking the tiger again, though they all knew that things were going to get harder when they caught up with Rajan in the near future.