The first thing the gang did, after the Panda King had suited up and shaved off the unwanted hair that he had grown during his meditation, was climb into the van and then drove down the path that would take them right to the stronghold that General Tsao commanded and ruled from. Before going into his meditation, and leaving the area behind for some time, the Panda King revealed that he still had two buildings there, one that was his actual house and the other that was a lookout area, allowing him to survey a good area of the stronghold whenever he wanted. Since it was unlikely that their enemy would have cleared out the area, and closed the two buildings up, the Panda King was sure that they would be able to use the lookout as their safe house this time around and found that the gang was willing to put their trust in him, even though he, Sly, and Clockwerk knew everything that had happened in his inner world when they came to retrieve him. He was still caught off guard by the fact that two ancient enemies were now working together, though he was told that he'd learn what happened between them... as well as the reason behind why Carmelita was here as well, dressed as a member of the Cooper Clan, to which the Panda King nodded and remained silent as Murray drove to their destination.
When they arrived at their new safe house, and the Panda King retreated to his house so he could spend a few more minutes confronting his own demons, Sly and Carmelita headed out to one of the fortress walls near the main area that their target lived in, while Bentley, on the other hand, rolled up to the entrance and made sure that he was out of sight before contacting the two of them... though at the same time the Panda King insisted that the rest of the gang join him in his house for a moment, as he was certain something would happen later on.
"This is it, General Tsao's palace." Sly commented, to which both he and Carmelita made sure that they could see Bentley as he sat near the entrance, where it appeared that he would be just fine to enter the palace, "If we're going to get at the Panda King's daughter we'll need an inside-track on the wedding... that's if we want to do things the normal way and not have Gilda, Derpy, and Diz tear their way to where Jing King is being held."
"Personally, I'd prefer not to rely on their magic all the time," Bentley stated, as he knew that sometimes Sly wanted to do things in a different manner than what they usually did, though at least the three magic users knew when a good time to use their powers was and didn't use them during every mission, "Besides, I'm ready with my costume. With some luck he'll hire me on as the wedding coordinator."
"While your in there, see if you can score a few of us some jobs as well." Carmelita said, as she knew that she and Sly would be able to do whatever Bentley signed them up for, since he'd look for something that they could do without faking what they were doing, before glaring at the building in front of them, "You can't have enough operatives on the inside."
It was in that moment that Bentley, having switched into the costume while hiding behind a pillar, opened the door in front of him and entered General Tsao's palace, though at the same time he kept his binocucom open so the others could hear the conversation between him and their target, so they could have a better plan of attack. As Bentley wheeled himself into the building, and made his way to the central area where the wedding was going to be held, he heard the sound of General Tsao talking to someone, who had to be Jing King, to which he waited a moment before heading out and approaching their target.
"No, you can't come out yet my blossom." General Tsao stated, though his tone immediately told the gang that he had no respect for women and, based on what Bentley's binocucom was showing them, he was also keeping Jing King in a room that was also her cell.
"But please, my father will be so worried." Jing King begged, to which the gang heard the sound of her crying, a sound that was upsetting to the Panda King as he silently listened to it, before she starting talking again, "Just let me tell him I'm alright. I beg of you, Tsao, let me out of this prison! Is this the way you woo your wife? You have shown me nothing but cruelty. I am so unhappy!"
Bentley paused for a few moments, waiting to see if there was anything that General Tsao had to say to that remark, but when no one said anything he moved out into the area in front of him and approached their target, who seemed a little annoyed that someone else was bothering him, yet turned towards him anyway to see what he wanted.
"Greetings, honorable General Tsao." Bentley said, hoping to play off of the honor aspect that still lived in the area that they had gone through to get here and could only wait to see what the General said, "I have heard of your impending marriage and have respectfully come before you to offer my services as wedding coordinator."
"How insulting. I need no 'help'." General Tsao replied, though Bentley caught a glimpse in his eyes that showed that he had no desire to be bothered by someone like him, despite the fact that he had an idea on how to get Sly and Carmelta into the palace.
"My apologies." Bentley said, bowing his head towards the General, all while doing his absolute best to avoid arousing any suspicion about who he was and why he was here, even though the Panda King had warned them that this person wasn't to be underestimated, "I mean no disrespect."
"Given my genius, I am of course completely capable of organizing the event." General Tsao stated, speaking as if Bentley had said nothing, which was annoying considering that Bentley was the genius of the Cooper Gang, but he said nothing as the General turned towards him again, "However, I might be interested in employing a photographer. A day of such momentous import should be captured for future generations to marvel at."
"I happen to have a pair of the world's best photographers on retainer." Bentley spoke up, finding the perfect way to get both Sly and Carmelita in the wedding so they could get them what they needed later on, but he made sure not to sound too eager, otherwise their target would know something was wrong.
"Really?" General Tsao commented, actually sounding interested in the fact that Bentley had such two high leveled photographers waiting to be called in, and he actually looked like he was thinking about it for a few moments, before he glancing back at Bentley once more, "Well... If they truly are world class, then they might get the honor of chronicling the event. However, I'll need to see some samples of their work before I give them the job."
"Of course. I'll have them come by right away." Bentley said, knowing that, by working together, both Sly and Carmelita would be able to get the mission done in no time and get back to the General before he got upset, which was going to work good for their overall plan.
"You'd better not be wasting my time, wedding planner." General Tsao replied, his tone indicating that he was quite easy to annoy and upset, meaning that they were going to have to work fast to be on his good side and earn the position that he was offering, "I get very, very uncharitable when people waste my time."
Bentley nodded his head and headed outside the palace, making it look like he needed to have a private call with the 'world's best photographers' that he had mentioned, and General Tsao simply stood there and let him leave the room, to which he headed outside and hid behind a pillar so he could contact Sly and Carmelita.
"Okay, you guys heard General Tsao." Bentley said, opening a brief link to who he needed to talk to, though at the same time he was grateful that the Panda King provided them with locations they might be able to take pictures in, to sell that they were who they said they were, "He wants some samples of your work. I've placed waypoints in areas with good photographic potential. Approach the guards while in costume and they'll probably pose for you. Good luck."
Sly and Carmelita, who heard that they would be posing as photographers for an unknown amount of time, had slipped into their matching disguises, which included a yellowish-tan flat cap, a pair of glasses, a brown handlebar styled mustache for Sly, a green jacket, a striped shirt, a gray suitcase and black dress shoes. Of course neither of them were sure how he managed to find the exact same thing for both of them, and assumed that Diz had helped him create the disguises with his chaos magic, but at the same time they weren't complaining as they started to move out towards the first area that Bentley wanted them to take a picture in. The first set of guards that they would be taking pictures of were standing in front of one of the gravestones that were some distance away from the palace, a tiger and a pig guard that weren't too happy to have their patrol interrupted, but they allowed the duo to rapidly set up their equipment, another bonus from the stuff that Bentley provided them, snapped a few pictures of them in front of the gravestone, and then departed as the guards went back to their business. While the two of them prepared themselves for the next area that the guards were located in, however, Sly noticed Gilda, Derpy, and Diz flying around the area, getting Bentley some additional pictures of the area so that the Panda King could identify the targets they might need to go after once this mission was done.
The second pair of guards were patrolling the treasure house that General Tsao kept his family treasure in, as the Panda King identified it from the photos that the flying members of their gang was delivering to Bentley, and as the duo took a few pictures of the guards Sly had the feeling that they'd make off with their target's treasure as well, once that plan of attack was in place. Interestingly enough the third set of pictures that Bentley wanted them to take was near a dragon statue near the entrance of the actual palace, though when they went to take the first picture one of the monkey guards got in the way and both Sly and Carmelita had to act like their equipment needed some fixing to get him out of the area, where Dix swooped in, knocked the guard out with a spell, and then flew away before anyone realized what had happened to the guard. From that point it was easy for the next few pictures to be taken and, with Bentley saying that they had all the pictures that they needed, the duo walked up to the entrance of the palace and walked inside, allowing them a few seconds to walk up to where General Tsao was standing... and, as they stared at the armored rooster that was their current enemy, Bentley informed them to get some pictures of him as well.
"Ah, the paparazzi. Will I ever know a moment of privacy?" General Tsao inquired, though this time he seemed to be in a good mood, better than when Bentley came in a few minutes ago, and he actually started to do some striking and rather impressive poses for the two of them, all while making comments when he changed poses, "Make sure you get my good side. It must be quite amusing to observe the effects of power. Why is it that I'm always the center of attention? Ooh, nice shot. Here, check out this pose! Impressive, I know."
Sly and Carmelita spent the next few minutes humoring General Tsao, taking pictures of his rather impressive poses, not that they would openly admit that to him since he seemed to think they were just that, before he grew tired of them taking pictures, which was their signal to approach him and get the meeting underway.
"Greetings, General Tsao." Sly said, though at the same time both he and Carmelita bowed to the General, to show that they 'respected' him and the power that he commanded, otherwise he'd likely throw a fit and order them to be either executed or thrown out of the palace, "As you have no doubt guessed, we are the world-class photographers hoping to play a humble role in your upcoming magnificent wedding."
"Hmm, let me see a sample of your work." General Tsao replied, the commanding tone returning to his voice, showing that he was capable of switching between what Bentley had dealt with, his sort of relaxed state, and this side in a matter of seconds, "I have a keen eye, a great sense of artistic value; I can tell at a glance if you're world-class."
"But of course, your Excellency." Carmelita said, to which she reached into her suitcase and withdrew the pictures that she and Sly had taken before coming into the palace, knowing that some of them had to impress the General, before she handed them over to their target, who proceeded to study them immediately.
"Ah, hmm. You have a strong sense of, uh, compositional regularity and, uh, forced perspectivism." General Tsao said, his tone revealing that, despite his eye for detail, he had spent a few seconds trying to figure out what they had given him, even though the pictures sort of resembled what his guards felt and wasn't what they had been hoping for when they approached them earlier, "These are... adequate. You two may have the honor of photographing my wedding."
"A thousand thank-yous my lord." Sly replied, to which he and Carmelita bowed once more, a while at the same time the General returned the pictures to Carmeltia, who stashed them inside her suitcase once more, along with the pictures they had snapped of their target, "I'm sure it will be a wedding none of us will ever forget."
With that job taken care of, and the position of the wedding's photographers secured, Sly and Carmelita excused themselves and made their way out of the palace, as it was time to see what else Bentley had planned before they made their move for Jing King.
Gilda, Derpy, and Diz, from the moment Sly and Carmelita headed out to assist Bentley in getting an inside job, spent a few moments flying around the stronghold, snapping pictures every now and then of whatever they found, and kept an eye on what was happening below them. It wasn't long before Bentley sent them the coordinates for an area that they could stand on and await further instructions, though when the three of them landed on the roof that they were supposed to be landing on they found that they weren't alone, as Clockwerk, still bound to his miniature form, was waiting for them and happened to be staring at one of the nearby buildings. That was when the three of them discovered that the building in question had to be important, as the door was locked with a pair of padlocks, which meant that they were going to have to acquire the keys before getting in there, and they turned toward Clockwerk as he turned to face them.
General Tsao's center of business is protected with a special double padlock. Clockwerk stated, gesturing to the building in question with his left wing, just in case none of them bothered to look down at it and see what he was talking about, though he already knew that they would have glanced at it, If we can get inside, and past all the security, we should have access to the purchase records for the wedding.
"So, let's get to pick pocketing those keys." Gilda said, though from what she could tell this was going to be a simple mission, as the fact that there were two keys meant that there were only two guards for them to take the keys from and they'd be able to do it with neither of them noticing what had happened.
It's not as simple as you think it is. Clockwerk replied, to which he glared down at the padlocks once more, where he was thankful that he had taken a moment to scan them before the trio of magic users arrived, as the information he was going to give them was important, [i]My scans indicate that the keys are designed with a self-destruct feature and, from what Bentley can tell me, the guards carrying them are in constant radio contact.
"I get it," Derpy spoke up, causing the group to turn to her for a moment, as they were curious as to whether or not she actually understood what they were being told, "if we steal a key from the first guard he'll report it in, then the second guard will destroy his copy before we have time to pull it."
That's right. Clockwerk replied, once more surprised that Derpy, the one he had originally considered to be the fool when he was fighting against her and her family, was actually as smart as Bentley sometimes, only without the technical aspect, Two of you will need to steal the keys almost simultaneously. It will be up to you to decide who will take the first key and who will take the second key, and who is going to be left out of taking anything.
It didn't take long for Diz to discover that Gilda and Derpy would be taking the keys, which he was actually fine with considering what was going on at the moment, though as they moved into position he spotted a monkey guard giving Sly and Carmelita trouble and moved to knock him out. A simple sleep spell was all he needed to use to knock the guard out, who would be punished later for falling asleep on the job or something, and then he took off so he could watch as Gilda approached the first guard and swiped the key without the guard noticing. A few seconds later, after receiving the tickle of the wind that was promised, Derpy swiped the second key and flew off before the guard could notice what had happened, only for the three of them to return to the building in question and find Clockwerk waiting by the door, to which the sisters presented the keys and undid the padlocks, allowing the ancient owl to move inside and finish the mission on his own. Since there was nothing else for them to do the three of them returned to the Panda King's house, as he wanted them to gather there for a few more minutes before he revealed to them what he wanted to share with them, all while letting the ancient owl do his thing.
Once the door was unlocked Clockwerk headed inside and found that there was a laser security fence in front of him, something that could only be deactivated from the terminal that he was searching for, but instead of letting that phase him he simply slipped through the cracks in the laser fence and slipped inside the actual building. From there he utilized another function he had installed in his body a long time ago, distracting noises that had sort of worked against the Coopers he had used it against, but instead of uninstalling it he kept it around in case he found a use for it later on, which was now since the guard in the room investigated the bird noise that clearly didn't belong in the area. When the guard was on top of the pressure plate that would open the door to the next level Clockwerk put a dart in his target's neck and knocked him out, allowing him to access the second floor and do the same thing with the guard that was up there, which he found to be easy to lure away from the station, place on the other pressure plate, and then knock out before heading towards the terminal. The instant he was in position he plugged himself in and started hacking into the system, finding that it was more up to date than what Octavio had, and not as up to date as Penelope's defenses back in Holland, but in the end it didn't matter, because he was able to get what he came for without any problems.
The moment he had the information in hand, or claw as it were, Clockwerk opened his wings and headed back to the entrance of the building that he had flown around in for a few seconds, as it was time to see if Bentley had any ideas on how they were going to get at General Tsao before crashing his wedding.
When everyone got together inside the Panda King's house, only a few minutes after both of the jobs had been completed, Bentley informed them that General Tsao was smarter than they gave him credit for, because sometime before he went to the palace to see him, and during the time everyone was heading into the Panda King's house, their foe found the safe house and made off with their computer. Of course, since they had been forewarned that General Tsao wasn't to be underestimated, Bentley had hidden the true computer, the one that contained their connection to ThiefNet and everything else, in the van, something that he claimed easily, though to make it look convincing he had created a new duplicate in the form of the one that General Tsao stole. The difference was that the fake one had out of date information, making it look like they had no real plan for their attack, save for the photographer position if he recognized Sly and Carmelita when they came to see him, and it had no connection to ThiefNet, making it next to worthless, save for the fact that it was the perfect decoy. The Panda King even revealed that he had seen General Tsao walk off with the fake computer and headed to another part of the stronghold, one that would require them to hack into the terminal inside the palace to figure out where he went... though, at the same time, the gang was ready for war, because now that their foe had taken the bait, which most of them hadn't even been aware of, it was time to teach General Tsao a lesson.