//------------------------------//
// Band: Wet Tiger 
// Story: Sly Cooper: Family of Thieves 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

When Sly and Carmelita returned to the hideout with half of Clockwerk's Heart, which hadn't been in Bentley's original plans, the gang rejoiced their success, because this still put them one step closer to stopping what the Klaww Gang was doing and, hopefully, stop the ancient owl from returning. Of course Carmelita was still shocked by what she had done so far, especially when she could easily imagine herself doing it again and again in the future like an actual member of the Cooper Gang. Sly knew that she was conflicted over what she had done, even if it was to gather the stolen Clockwerk parts from those that had taken them, but he also knew that sooner or later she would have to comes to terms with the fact that she had a choice to make, one that wasn't going to be easy. He honestly couldn't see her giving up her position as an Inspector of Interpol, which she worked hard to earn in the first place, and yet he saw the makings of a thief beneath the shell that Carmelita had constructed around her.

After a few minutes of celebrating what the duo had done, and their recovery of half of Clockwerk's Heart, Bentley stated that it was time for them to get to work in finishing their preparations for the heist, as they had a ruby to recover and a dam to blow up before they were ready to move forward. As such Bentley determined that the first one they should go for is the ruby, as it would provide them with an additional tool to use again Rajan, and he stated that since he was sure that there would be extra guards on patrol when they attempted to remove the ruby, based on radio chatter, that the entire gang should participate in the mission. Once they were in agreement the gang headed out of the hideout and made their way to the area that the ruby was being held in, where Gilda, Derpy, and Carmelita knocked out the guards that were in the area to make things much easier in the beginning.

The moment Sly was in position, in front of the ruby, he pulled out his binocucom to get the full briefing as to why they were so interested in acquiring the ruby, as that was the part of the mission he didn't understand, unless they were going to rob Rajan blind as well, because he could get behind that logic.

"So Bentley, why are we stealing this ruby anyway?" Sly asked, to which he could see the others turning to look at Bentley for a moment, as they were all curious as to why they were doing this particular mission and had remained silent in the hopes that he would explain himself.

"We've been contracted to acquire that huge ruby of Rajan's for a local crime ring." Bentely explained, as while most of the others had been busy earlier he had discovered a message from the ring he was referring to, who preferred not to reveal who they were, and he quickly set up a deal with them when he learned of what they wanted, "In exchange for the  goods, they'll set us up with a Cherry Bomb 500 for the heist."

"A Cherry Bomb 500!?" Carmelita asked, as she knew all about that type of explosive, because there had been several reports of a specific group, based in India of all places, that sold this type of explosives to whoever could buy them, though part of the reason Interpol didn't go after them was because the bombs were usually used for demolition and actually never hurt anyone, "Those bombs have a lot of kick."

"Trust me, we'll need it." Bentely said, though he refrained from saying Carmelita's name, especially since Neyla had to be around the area someplace and knew that the undercover Inspector might get in trouble in she was spotted here, hanging out with them, but it was hard to know since the Secretary could easily wipe the record clean, "Now Sly, to get that ruby free from its moorings you might have to whack it a few times with your cane."

"Is that all?" Sly inquired, as he was expecting that he'd have to haul up some explosives or something to get rid of the moorings that were surrounding the gemstone, but at the same time he was fortunate that there was an easy way to get the prize, "I'm on it."

Sly put away his binocucom and readied his cane, to which he swung it a few times and made sure to hit the moorings and not the gemstone, as he was afraid of shattering the stone on accident, though luck was with them as the stone came loose and fell to the ground... where it happened to land without taking any damage at all, as the rest of the stone that was attached to it acted like a protective coating and came off when it touched the ground.

"Murray, you're on." Bentley stated, as the moment the gemstone came loose he knew that they had to move quickly, because it was only a matter of time until Rajan's guards came out to bother them, "Now that Sly's knocked the ruby loose we need your muscle to get it to the buyers."

"Right!" Murray said, to which he headed over to the side of the path that would allow someone to get to where the ruby was now resting and used the large mushroom that was there to bounce to the roof of the structure, before he jumped down and headed for the ruby.

"Murray, you can pick up the ruby with that stomp move you used back in Paris." Sly spoke up, only doing so as his friend approached the ruby, to which he nodded as he remembered what he had done and did so to lift the ruby up off the ground, "You'll also need to be careful with the ruby, because despite it's size its likely fragile now. It looks like Bentley will run ahead and inflate cushions that are safe for you to throw the ruby onto, while the rest of the gang and I keep you guys safe from the guards. Now, head out to our rendezvous near the waterfall."

Murray nodded his understanding as he turned around, just in time to watch Bentley set down the first cushion that Sly had told him about, to which he threw it over to the cushion and watched as it landed at his target location without damaging the stone. From there Murray jumped over the stone obstacle that had been in his way, picked up the ruby, and followed after Bentley as he led him towards the locked gate that was in front of them, where Bentley pulled out a bomb and destroyed the gate. With the way open the two of them continued towards the right of where the ruby had been resting, though as they did so Murray saw that Sly and Carmelita, for the most part, would be collecting the cushions that Bentley used so they didn't leave evidence behind, and also to reuse them since Sly gave the first cushion back to Bentely a few seconds later. Of course Murray had to throw the gemstone three more times so they could get it over the ruined path in front of them, though so far he wasn't seeing any of the guards that Bentley had been so worried about... until he came to a stop by the waterfall and set the ruby down on the cushion that had been placed on the ground.

That was immediately followed by a purple robed figure, one that was either a member of the crime ring or a third party that was involved in the exchange, appeared behind the ruby and picked it up with little to no effort, though it was clear that they were studying the stone.

"This ruby is near flawless." the robed figure said, to which they gently returned the ruby to the cushion and took a step back from it, before they pointed off in the distance, silently referring to a place that they had told Bentley about when they were setting up this entire exchange, "I'll recommend to my superiors that we purchase it... take it to our buyer and complete the contract."

The instant following the command the robed figure disappeared in a flash, to which Bentley started to move again and Murray picked up the gemstone as he followed after his friend, while the others followed behind them so they could be on the lookout for any additional enemies. Along the way one of the baboon guards spotted them and started to raise the alarm, so while Gilda knocked him out the others defended Murray as the alerted guards came running towards the source of the disturbance, making sure to knock them all out so they could prevent them from calling more guards to their location. Murray, on the other hand, was able to follow Bentley to the next area he had to throw the ruby to, though as he crossed over to where the gemstone was the others caught up him, to which they watched as he moved the stone over the gap that was in front of them and then settled it in front of a tree, where the gang gathered behind him and Bentley as they waited to see what happened.

For a moment nothing happened, making them wonder if they were being played, before a second robed figure appeared from the shadows between the tree and the gemstone, to which it also picked up the ruby and studied it, just to make sure that it was what the person had been told about.

"I must say, the Cooper Gang certainly lives up to its reputation." the robed figure said, though it's voice sounded impressed, indicating that it's group had heard the stories about the gang and now knew that they were true, "This is a true Indian treasure. We will honor the bargain and provide a Cherry Bomb 500 at the time the turtle requested."

Once that was said and done the robed figure slipped the ruby into it's robe and disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, leaving the group to wonder what they were going to do next, which was when Bentley stated that he was going to take care of the final mission before the heist began. Before some of them headed back to the hideout, as Bentley said he needed Gilda and Derpy to assist him for a moment, Bentley also explained that the extra guards must have been a request that Rajan had put in, though that did nothing to them, as the guards weren't supposed to arrive for another day or two, after he double checked the blueprints anyway. While the others headed back to the hideout, to rest up for the main event and so Carmelita could have a chance to change back into her cop attire for Rajan's arrest, Bentley, Gilda, and Derpy headed towards the final mission beacon... which happened to be near the truck that they he, Murray, and Diz had stood on when he was hunting Rajan for the blueprints.

"Rajan's holed up in his temple still." Gilda commented, as she figured that the moment Bentley stood beside the truck they were in the mission area that he had set for himself, to which she and Derpy turned and looked at him for a few seconds as she tried to figure out how he was going to destroy the dam, "Since you're plan involves blowing up the dam that presents an interesting problem, as your bombs aren't strong enough to blow a hole in the structure."

"You're correct in the fact that my bombs aren't strong enough for such a thing." Bentley stated, though at the same time he tapped the side of the truck for a moment, revealing that he knew something that the two of them didn't know, but was going to tell them what he knew anyway, "Fortunately while monitoring the bug in Rajan's office I overheard that an auto-pilot attack helicopter had just arrived. It's sitting inside this truck."

"Really?" Derpy asked, as that was an interesting object for someone like Rajan to purchase, though she guessed that it was a replacement for the chopper that they destroyed above the palace earlier, "Okay, I'm sure that you can complete a mission like this on your own... so why did you insist on Gilda and I coming along with you?"

"Because I want to utilize your elemental abilities in this mission," Bentley explained, though while he did that he attached a bomb to the side of the truck and tore the container apart, revealing the helicopter that was under it, before he turned back to the sisters, "Since Rajan is sure to call on more of his forces to shoot me down, and I'm one hundred percent convinced that he'll do that, the two of you can make use of the wind and what remains of the storm to force the enemy choppers to collide with each other or with the dam itself."

Gilda and Derpy glanced at each other for a moment, as they were surprised that Bentley was asking them for help in this manner, before they decided that they might as well see if either of them could be of any help to him, where Bentley smiled as he climbed into the chopper and turned it on. As the chopper ascended towards the air, and Bentley pointed the guns at the dam, both Gilda and Derpy moved up to the tusks that were near the location of the ruby Sly had freed a few minutes ago, giving them a good view of the dam and the enemy helicopters that were already moving out. Fortunately Bentley was right that they could manipulate what was left of the storm to his advantage, as Gilda started moving the wind around the enemy choppers and forced some of them to either collide with each other or use the blades to damage one of their allies, enough to send them flying into the side of the dam and damaged it. Derpy, on the other hand, had to pick and choose her targets, as there really wasn't a lot of lightning energy left in the clouds, not after she used the majority of it to blow the satellite array to pieces... but even so the few bits of lightning she could muster, without using her own energy to create lightning, she damaged the choppers she picked and did the same thing that Gilda did.

Bentley focused all of his efforts on the dam, as the enemy helicopters were too focused on trying not to hurt each other as they fought Gilda's wind pushing them around, or were forced to abandon ship when Derpy hit a critical part of their chopper... and, in the end, he did enough damage to the dam and blew it open, while at the same time taking some damage from a fragment of the dam that struck the chopper. Fortunately Bentley was able to prevent the chopper from hitting the ground or something else that would have killed him, though as he slammed into the ruined tower that was near the truck it replaced the top of it, giving it a permanent position that they might be able to use to their advantage in the near future. Once the chopper had come to a stop Gilda and Derpy flew over to it and made sure that Bentley was okay, though once that was done they grabbed onto him so they could get him back to the hideout... where he could tell them what they needed to do next, if the destruction of the dam didn't do what he wanted it to do.





They spent thirty minutes studying the effects of the dam's destruction and found that, despite the spice grinder's destruction and everything else they had done so far, Rajan didn't seem interested in leaving the ruins, causing Bentley to determine that the partial flooding of the ruins had failed. As such he stated that it was time for them to go the distance, as his plan involved blowing up the temple's elephant mouth, which should turn this grotto into a swimming pool, though he intended to cover Murray from the chopper's gun turret while he pried the mouth open. Of course Diz, Gilda, and Derpy were tasked with being his bodyguards while he did that, to protect him from any guards that revealed themselves, before they all fled the scene. Once the mouth was open Sly would need to walk the Cherry Bomb 500 into the throat, while avoiding the guards that were in his way, before he joined the others and fled to high ground before the flooding of the ruins happened. Bentley was sure that Rajan was sure to show up and be extra angry, where they would jump him the moment he showed himself, take his half of the Clockwerk Heart, and then they'd get out of the area before Neyla and her friends showed up.

Carmelita, now dressed in her cop attire once more, would have no part in this operation, as she had to leave the area and pretend to 'catch up' with Neyla's group so they could bust Rajan when they arrived, giving Bentley an idea of where they were and how much time they had left to make their escape... to which she told them that she hoped the operation went well and departed with the pack that she had brought with her.

Once Carmelita was gone, and the gang was actually sad to see her go since she was such a valuable member of the team when she assisted them, Bentley had everyone get ready immediately, as the sooner they get this done the sooner they could get out of here and start the hunt for their next target. As such he had Murray and the others move out immediately, though while they did that Sly headed out for the area that the Cherry Bomb was being stored in, and he also had Diz drop him off at the chopper, so he'd be in place as well. The moment Bentley was in position he called a role check to be sure that everyone was in position, where he heard that Murray's group was near the mission beacon and that Sly was in position as well, indicating that everyone was in position for the heist, to which he called operation 'Wet Tiger' was a go and that Murray's group was ready to depart.

As such Diz led the way towards the location of the lever Bentley wanted Murray to pull, as he had seen it when he and Murray were guarding Bentley when he grabbed Rajan's blueprints earlier, though when they arrived at their destination the trio stood at the ready around Murray as he started to pull the lever up. At the same time the trio glanced up at the sky once or twice and found that Rajan's remaining chopper was raining hunter seeker bombs on the area, so while Bentley fired at them, blowing them to pieces before they could reach the ground, Derpy braced herself as she waited for the chopper to stop raining bombs on them. The moment the hunter seeker bombs were taken care of, and Bentley reported that no more were raining down towards the ground, Derpy called the lightning one more time and blasted the helicopter, damaging it so the pilot had to abandon it as it crashed into the hillside... which was followed by Murray's cry of triumph as he lowered the mouth and revealed the area that Sly was supposed to deliver the Cherry Bomb 500 to in the next few minutes.

As Dix flew up to where Bentley was hiding, since he wasn't needed for the rest of the heist at the moment, Murray headed up to the area that the ruby had been located in so he could jump Rajan with Sly and the others, though while they did that Gilda and Derpy flew over to Sly's location and kept beating their wings so they could keep watch for guards that might find him. Between the two of them the guards didn't stand a chance, as either Gilda or Derpy would knock out the guards that were in the path that Sly decided to use, before he reached the area that the target was located in, where he quickly jumped out of the barrel and let his sisters carry him up to Murray before they headed to the chopper to watch what happened next. Not a few seconds later the Cherry Bomb 500 exploded and the majority of the ruins was flooded by the water that surged out of the opening they had created, while at the same time the water in front of the area Rajan was supposed to emerge from emptied and wooden spires erupted from the walkway leading to the door. Bentley, Diz, Derpy, and Gilda were surprised by the spires, as they hadn't been in any of the plans they had seen and had no reason to plan around something like this happening... but they said nothing as the door opened and Rajan, carrying the second half of the Clockwerk Heart, emerged from where he had been hiding.

Rajan took a look around his now flooded ruins and growled in annoyance, to which he jumped up to the top of the building he had emerged from and stood above where the ruby had been located, though whether or not he noticed it's absence didn't matter as he turned to face the flooded area.

"Black Clouds and Thunderbolts!" Rajan loudly declared, to which he spread his arms out, as if he was giving a speech to someone, where the gang knew that he was likely preparing to address them all, or maybe one specific person as Sly found Rajan's eyes on him, "My spice temple...  ruined! I will no longer hide while you villains destroy my hard won empire. This place is mine... here I am King! Come, face me, Cooper. With Clockwerk's black heart, I will show you true power. You are nothing. Come, face the might of Rajan, lord of these hills."

"Boy, when we try to tick someone off we really do the job." Sly commented, as when Bentley said make Rajan angry he wasn't expecting this, meaning that he should really change his ideas of what making someone angry meant, so that he wouldn't be caught off guard again.

"Yes... you do seem to have quite a talent for it." a voice said, to which Neyla appeared nearby, though when Sly glanced over to her he found that neither the Contessa or Carmelita were present yet, which meant that part of Bentley's plan wasn't working the way it was supposed to.

"Constable Neyla, I wasn't expecting you and your band to arrive until later." Sly stated, as this changed part of their plan entirely, as letting someone like Neyla observe them taking out Rajan wasn't something they usually did, and knowing her he figured that there was something else at play here.

"That man is an illegal spice trader," Neyla replied, deciding to ignore Sly's comment and focus on the tiger that was staring at them, as he appeared to be her target at the moment, and her next words seemed to confirm what she was here to do, "he should be brought to justice."

"All we're after is the Clockwerk part he has." Sly said, though at the same time he gripped his cane and prepared himself for what he was about to do next, especially since he was sure that his next words were going to annoy Neyla a tiny bit, "Try to keep up with me."

The moment Sly said that he used the large mushroom that was nearby and jumped up to the top of the first spire that was in front of him, using the Ninja Spire Jump to land safely on the point that was in front of him before he jumped to the second one and avoided the lightning that Rajan was calling down to smite him. Neyla, apparently annoyed with Sly, followed after him and mimicked his movements, but she stayed behind him and watched where he was going while keeping an eye on Rajan. Neyla then grinned as she noticed Rajan getting ready to smite the spire that Sly was standing on, to which she used her whip and caught his leg from behind and caused him to stagger for a moment, where the lightning struck Sly and blasted him off the spires that he had been moving through. Murray and the others watched as Sly fell into the empty pond, where Rajan gave a wild grin as he jumped into the area and kicked the wounded Sly in the chest, knocking him against the edge of the area they were in.

"Wha?" Murray said, as it had all happened so fast that he must have missed something, though hearing Sly getting kicked put his senses into overdrive as he prepared to jump down and beat Rajan up, as that appeared to be the only way they were going to get away with the Heart now, "Sly! I'm coming, buddy!"

"This is it?" Rajan demanded, annoyance flashing on his face as he stared at Sly, while at the same time mostly ignoring Murray as he jumped down into the area, though he did turn on the laser barrier to prevent the two from being together for a few seconds, "This is the Cooper Gang I've heard so much about and feared these long hours?"

"Oh, there is more to the Cooper Gang than this," Murray said, to which he raised his fists and prepared himself, as he knew that a fight was coming up and he was ready to put Rajan in his place, especially since he seemed to think that he was going to win before the battle even started, "besides, 'The Murray' will renew your fear."

"Who's 'The Murray?" Rajan asked, to which he glared at Murray for a moment, because the names of the most feared members of the gang were Sly himself, his sisters Gilda and Derpy, and the latest addition Diz, while the rest of them were still nobodies to him, "All I see is a fat, pathetic weakling."

Murray roared in anger at being called a 'weakling', because he had prepared himself for being the gang's muscle and he never once considered himself to be weak, and immediately lashed out at Rajan, noticing that his opponent was definitely resilient to his punches. Rajan, on the other hand, used the staff that he was holding and tried to either swipe out Murray's feet or crush him with the length of the staff, which Murray had to avoid before he could respond with his own punches. Not even a minute into the fight Rajan called on the remaining guards that had survived the flooding and ordered them to join him, to overpower Murray, while also using the power of the Heart to shock the water around him, though when he did that he stood on a lily pad to negate being hurt and Murray did the same thing. Once the shock was over, and he escaped without damage, Murray grabbed onto one of the guards and slammed him into Rajan, staggering the tiger for a moment, before unleashing a storm of powerful blows that knocked him into the laser wall that was behind him, shocking him and lowering his defenses.

Despite the constant damage he was dealing to Rajan, with his fists and the laser walls, and constantly avoiding the attacks to the best of his ability, it took Murray a few minutes to actually deal enough damage to Rajan to knock him out, proving that he was one of the more challenging opponents he had fought since he started training to reach this point in time... though with his victory assured he took Rajan's half of the Clockwerk Heart from his staff and stashed it away, while at the same time the laser wall faded and allowed him to tend to Sly.

"Happy day!" Neyla said, to which Murray turned around and looked up at the area that was above them, as he found the Constable staring down at him, a wounded Sly, and a knocked out Rajan with a smile on her face that was unlike the usual expressions she had showed them earlier.

"Neyla? Throw down a ladder, Sly's hurt real bad..." Murray called out, hoping that Neyla might be like Carmelita and actually be on their side, but even as he said that he noticed that she seemed to be ignoring his cries for assistance, "can you hear me? I said Sly's hurt!"

"There they are Contessa, just as I promised." Neyla said, to which both the Contessa and Carmelita appeared behind her, though while one of them was looking at the group with an uncaring look in her eyes, which was the Contessa, one of them was worried the moment she spotted Sly, which was Carmelita, "The Cooper Gang and Rajan all incapacitated."

"Excellent police work Constable Neyla." Contessa replied, her voice sounding like she was actually praising Neyla for her actions, even though they all knew she had done absolutely nothing to reach this point, "Carmelita's never been able to catch the Cooper Gang, yet you captured them in just a few short weeks."

Carmelita tensed for a few seconds as she walked over to the edge and found that Murray was tended to a wounded Sly, who looked a little fazed from what happened to him but would be alright within a few days, but she couldn't say nothing, especially when both of her fellow cops were doing something wrong.

"Really Neyla? You 'captured' the Cooper Gang?" Carmelita asked, to which she turned around and stared at Neyla for a moment, while at the same time noticing that the Contessa raised an eyebrow for a moment, "Please, right now you are breaking an agreement that Secretary Sen has with the Cooper Gang... what do you think he'll do when he finds out that you broke the arrangement and arrested the Cooper Gang? Your career as a cop might be over when he hears the news and Contessa, you might end up losing a rank for allowing such a thing to happen on your watch."

"Really Carmelita, that's the best you could come up with?" Contessa asked, surprising Carmelita by her disregard for the fact that Secretary Sen could do so much to her and Neyla for breaking this agreement, one that Interpol had stayed true to for the last two years, "By the time Secretary Sen learns of what has happened it will be too late to undo the damage you have caused to your own reputation... so you should just accept your defeat gracefully."

"Actually, Contessa, there's a good reason Inspector Fox never caught the Cooper Gang," Neyla said, though Carmelita didn't like the smile that was on Neyla's face, as that only spelled disaster for her and the others, even those that were in hiding at the moment, "she's been in league with them since the beginning of her career."

"That's a lie and you know it!" Carmelita snapped, as she couldn't believe that Neyla was trying to do this right now, but it appeared that she was finally playing the hand that both she and Sly had been worried about when they saw her attitude back at Rajan's ball.

"The first time Sly helped you further your career was when you 'caught' the person who stole the Diva Diamond all those years ago," Neyla stated, revealing that she had read all of the cases that Carmelita had been on since she first became a cop, and that she was starting with the first one that Sly had been involved in, "and since then you have followed him and his gang as they committed countless heists across the world, purposely using them to bust villains like the Fiendish Five and increase your reputation as a whole. Then, after defeating Clockwerk, you started assisting them in all of their heists, giving them the location of several objects they could steal from several criminals, including the Venus de Whalo and several other important pieces. Sometime after Diz joined the Cooper Gang you learned that the Clockwerk parts were being transported to the Cairo Museum, where you gave them the information on where the parts were located so they could steal them... and, to prove my point even more, here's some photos I took earlier."

Carmelita watched as Neyla pulled out a bundle of photos and handed them over to the Contessa, who took them and started looking them over with a look of interest in her eyes, though Carmelita knew that there was only one thing that would make such a thing happen... which didn't bode well for her, especially when the two cops were completely disregarding Secretary Sen's orders.

"Those photos show Sly Cooper running around with a thief he called 'Kate Cooper'," Neyla said, to which Carmelita's fears came to life, as Neyla had something that would convince the Contessa to disregard the arrangement the Cooper Gang had with the Secretary, "I've actually come into contact with them twice since the Clockwerk parts were stolen from the Cairo Museum, once outside Dimitri's nightclub and right out here as well, and I know who the mysterious new thief really is. 'Kate Cooper' is none other than Carmelita Fox, which you can tell just by looking at the pictures I have prepared for you... and, like I told Sly back in Paris, my predator senses never lie and I made sure to familiarize myself to Carmelita's personal scent, which was coming from 'Kate' both times I encountered her."

"I must say, the evidence is pretty convincing." Contessa commented, glancing between the photos that she had been given, while at the same time not even bothering to show Carmelita what Neyla had given her, not that she needed to see a scene that she had been apart of, "Inspector Fox, do you have anything to say?"

"Secretary Sen approved of me doing what was necessary to stop the Klaww Gang and recover the Clockwerk parts, even if it meant becoming a thief for a few hours." Carmelita stated, though at the same time Neyla approached her and tore open the pack that she was carrying at the moment, revealing the thief attire she had been carrying since she left the hideout before the operation began.

"And the final piece of evidence, the attire from her double life." Neyla said, to which she stepped to the side and looked at Carmelita again, while at the same time some of the Contessa's guards approached the group, as they were eager to do their mistress' bidding, "Oh, and don't worry Carmelita, I dropped a packet containing some new information on all the cases you worked where Sly Cooper was involved, on Director Barkley's desk, highlighting everything that you did to let them get away and how you busted all those villains. I think it's safe to say that you're reputation will be shattered in due time... and it's all because you were corrupted by the Cooper Gang's influence."

"Carmelita, do you have anything else to say, in light of all the evidence that's been presented?" Contessa asked, but this time around she found that Carmelita was only glaring at the two of them, as she had determined that they were out to end her career and had set up their own plan to get rid of her, "Very well then. Men, place Inspector Fox under arrest."

"I'll get you for this Neyla." Carmelita promised, though at the same time she struggled against the guards that had appeared behind her and grabbed onto her arms, where she felt the metallic cuffs lock around her wrists as they treated her like a common criminal, while also taking her pack and her pistol from her, "Don't think I won't."

"Such a pity when an officer falls from the light." Contessa commented, though while she said that one of her guards shot Murray with a sleep dart and knocked him out, so that way the others could drop in and cuff him, the wounded Sly, and the unconscious Rajan, so she could arrest all of them.

"Yes... indeed." Neyla said, where her tone made it sound like she had no choice but to reveal Carmelita's 'corruption', before she and the Contessa led the guards and their prisoners out of the area, so they could fulfill the paperwork and put their prisoners in jail, where they all belonged.





Bentley, Gilda, Derpy, and Diz watched as Sly, Murray, and Carmelita were cuffed before their eyes and escorted from the ruins that they had been in, now prisoners of the Contessa thanks to Neyla betraying whatever trust Sly had tried to give her, since the gang had a deal with Secretary Sen at the moment. Bentley was sure that the Secretary would want to hear the recording of the conversation that he had gotten from Carmelita's binocucom, which had been inside her pack the entire time, though he hoped the guards didn't do anything to it. The others, however, were angry that their brother, one of their friends, and Sly's love interest were being treated in such a way, where Bentley noticed that the storm seemed to come back to life in response to their power, while the tower itself seemed to stop swaying, in response to the chaotic power that was coursing through Diz's veins. Bentley knew that the three of them could easily destroy something, based on what he had seen when two of them awakened their powers in the battle with Clockwerk, though Diz seemed to be the most emotional of them... which made sense, considering that they were the first family he had known since his days in the orphanage he had been dropped at.

Having some of his family members taken from him in such a manner had awakened a similar anger that reminded Bentley of when the sisters fought Clockwerk, but fortunately Gilda and Derpy were able to calm Diz down before he did something that he might regret.

Once they were all calmed down they returned to the hideout and gathered everything that they had left behind, all of them thinking about what had happened to the others and what they were going to do to in response to this outrage, even if Secretary Sen did nothing. They all wanted to go after Neyla, since it was her fault this was even happening, but in the end Bentley stated that their first priority had to be figuring out where the others were being sent for their prison sentence and where it was located. From there they would work a plan to rescue them from their containment areas and prevent them from being harmed, and then hopefully find some evidence that would damage either the Contessa or Neyla's reputations in a way to counter what they did to Carmelita. When they managed to reach the van, exactly where they had left it, their resolve had hardened and their minds were set on saving the rest of their gang... but there was one thing they had to do before they could leave the jungle, they had to learn how to drive a stick shift.