Once Sly and Diz were back from seeing what the new costume was capable of, and Diz was sure that the scepter contained some special time magic that he and the others didn't even want to mess with for fear of something bad happening, Bentley had Salim head out for another mission. As the elderly thief headed out Gilda followed him, more to make sure that he recalled the techniques that they used, up till this time period anyway, but even as she followed after Salim she noticed that he didn't like the idea being followed by someone like her, as if her wings would give her away or something. Gilda smiled for a moment as she launched herself into the air, where she followed the pattern that Salim was using, causing him to raise an eyebrow as she demonstrated her ability to use the techniques that he would have learned up till this moment and even stole the treasures in the pockets of the guards that they went by, which she stored away for later. Salim watched as she did all of that and walked off without anyone, save for him, seeing her in the act, showing that her skills in using the Cooper techniques wasn't to be ignored and that he might as well adapt to her being there, to which the two of them headed towards the area that Bentley wanted them to stop in.
When they reached their destination Gilda came to a stop and pulled out her binocucom, something that Salim pulled out and followed her example since he had no idea how to use the device that he had been handed moments before their departure, before they spoke with Bentley to see what he wanted them to do.
"Gilda, Salim, we know that Miss Decibel has 'The Panther' somewhere in that tower." Bentley told them, to which they shifted their gaze towards the tower that he was talking about, before moving onto what appeared to be a carpet shop that caused the ancestor to smile a little, "Trying to get through the palace would be impossible, especially with the traps and guards that have been posted there, but fortunately this carpet shop will save you two the trouble of going through the palace."
"Ah yes, Honest Hassan's Carpets." Salim commented, his tone indicating that he knew who was in charge of the shop and that it was a good memory that he was calling upon, before he pulled out one of the spare grapes that he had taken from the safe house and popped it in his mouth, before continuing his statement, "He owns many, many shops, but trust me, he's not as honest as the name suggests. In fact, we used to run this flying carpet scam where he would..."
"Sorry Salim, but we're kind of stressed for time." Gilda said, because while she knew it would have been interesting to hear what sort of story he had to tell, as the other ancestors had some interesting stories when they were waiting in the safe house, and she could tell that Salim was disappointed, "Maybe when we're done with our mission, and before we take on Miss Decibel, we can hear about the interesting scam that you and Hassan pulled."
"Fine. Please continue." Salim stated, to which he became serious once more, because the promise to tell Gilda and the others his tale later filled him with the desire to get this mission over with, where he focused on the device he was holding and listened to what Bentley had to tell them.
"According to the diagrams that we have drawn up, the shop is connected to the tower." Penelope continued, though at the same time Gilda heard the sound of both her and Bentley pulling some things out for when they talked about their mission, "There is a vent system on the side of the building, so if you crawl through it you'll be able to enter the shop. From there all you two have to do is make your way through the interior of the shop, which will allow you to reach the tower, where you can free 'The Panther' and get him out of there before Miss Decibel realizes what's going on."
Gilda and Salim put their binocucoms away and headed across the river that was in front of them, where they used the vent system and entered Honest Hassan's Carpets, though when they actually pulled themselves out of the hole in the wall they spotted a basket with some cobras in it. Salim then demonstrated his personal ability, the one that was only mentioned in the Thievius Raccoonus and not described in any great detail, and grabbed onto the pole, though am instant later he raced up the pole before the cobras could launch out at him. Gilda chuckled and opened her wings as she followed after him, heading through the open area above them, but when they reached the next room both Penelope and Bentley were surprised to see that the enter place had been renovated recently, as it didn't match their blueprints, but the duo moved forward and ignored the pair for now. Salim pointed out a crack in the floor that looked like it might shatter if they dropped something heavy on it, though Gilda chuckled for a moment as her magic gathered, because there just so happened to be an open window above them somewhere and she drew the wind into the building, just enough to punch a hole in the floor so they could move forward, though after hearing what Diz could do she noticed that the ancestor wasn't surprised by what she could do, even if he hadn't seen Derpy's power.
From there they found themselves in the cavern below the shop and avoided the scorpion mounds that were around the chamber, before crawling through the gap in the wall that was nearby and entered a new chamber that had a way around the scorpions, as all they had to do was jump up onto a platform and use the hooks that were hanging from the ceiling so they could reach the other side of the chamber. As they climbed the rope the was on the other side of the chamber they had to be careful, as there were a large number of gears that they had to avoid so they could reach their destination, but when they reached the room above them Gilda found that the path they needed to follow was designed for a single person and that if two people tried it the ropes and whatnot would fall apart, so she spread her wings and silently followed after Salim as he made his way towards the top floor of the tower. Even though it was only Salim using the path in front of them they reached the area that 'The Panther' was being held in, causing Salim to have some dismay when he found his friend being hypnotized by a old fashioned music player that had Miss Decibel's hypnotic frequencies coming from it... and the only way to turn it off was for Gilda to attach a device to the power source and let Bentley and Penelope hack into it, disabling the power after a few moments and freeing the thief from his trance.
When the thief was freed he announced that he was hungry and Salim raised his hands in defeat, though Gilda opened a door, spread her wings, and carried the two of them off into the distance, allowing them to leave the tower and plan out their next move when they reached the safe house. As Gilda landed outside the safe house, and let the duo go, she and Salim found that Sly and Murray had gone off and returned with 'The Tiger' while they were busy, though they had gone into the nearby taxi shop and had to explore an underground cave system that Murray accidentally put them in before they could get back to where their target was located. It was an interesting story, where they had to take turns helping each other move forward through the area, making it sound like it was intentional for something like that to happen to protect 'The Tiger'. It was an epic tale of teamwork and that there was some decent treasure in the cave below them, how they were supposed to get to it normally they had no idea, but according to Penelope that treasure was part of something that another ancestor would come and claim, after Salim retired anyway, so the ancestor they were helping pushed that thought out of his mind as they focused on what they were going to do next, since only one of the thieves needed to be freed from their prison.
Once they were situated Bentley, Penelope, and Derpy headed out into the area around the safe house, where the pair of geniuses used their RC devices to drop smoke bombs around the city, while at the same time Derpy moved through the streets as the smoke covered her tracks. Because of the smoke cover, disrupting the missile targeting system that had been installed into the city against certain threats, she was able to make her way to where "The Lion' was waiting and set a device on the terminal so Bentley could hack into it, though once that was done, and the thief was free, she escorted him back to the safe house. When that was done she then headed back out and brought both Bentley and Penelope the three devices that had been brainwashing the three thieves, causing the duo to smile as they claimed the devices and started taking them apart, as they already had an idea they could use them for, and it was going to be directed right at Miss Decibel, who wasn't even going to see this coming.
When the deed was done, and the two of them were done inventing, they didn't send any of the usual people out to start the new mission, rather they handed the three new devices they had created over to Clockwerk, whose systems allowed him to shrink them down or enlarge them depending on which form he was in, before he flew out in his miniature form and flew towards the library.
"Okay, Penelope has disabled the missile system in the village," Bentley said, speaking to the system that allowed Clockwerk to hear, as it was one of the few bits of his body that he allowed his friend access to, "but Miss Decibel has retreated to her private office above the library. We need to plant a bug in her office so we can confirm what she and Le Paradox are up to, but to do that we'd either need the aid of someone like Salim, whose napping at the moment, or someone that can bypass the obstacles by flying, like yourself."
I will head inside and see if I can't learn anything while I am planting the bug. Clockwerk replied, referring to the second device, that was different than the three identical items he had been given first, before he flapped his wings and flew to the nearby window, which allowed him to enter the study area that Miss Decibel was in.
When Clockwerk headed inside the area that Miss Decibel was supposed to be inside he found the elephant sitting at her table, writing something on her music sheets, which made sense considering what profession she had tried to get into and did in her own way, though since she was distracted it was easy for him to move towards the first location and carefully extracted the device that Bentley had given him, putting it in place with a smile on his face. He put them in such a place where a direct hit from something powerful, like Miss Decibel's head, would knock them off and send them crashing to the ground, reducing them to broken pottery and useless metal pieces, meaning that she'd never figure out what was going on if she investigated the devices. It was all a distraction, because when the three devices were in position Bentley would press the button from the outside of the building and start playing rock and roll music, a type that their foe hated with a passion, and because he was being so quiet it was impossible for Miss Decibel to hear the sound of his wings moving or the sound of him putting the devices in the areas that Bentley and Penelope told him to put them in.
"Ah, Miss Decibel, it seems that you're hard at work making everything ready for Le paradox's plans." a voice spoke up, one that Clockwerk recognized immediately, because it was one of the voices he had heard when he had regained his body some time ago, to which he put the second of the three devices down in the area it needed to be in and flew to an area where he could stare at the main target they were here to defeat.
What he found, however, was a shocking surprise, as Neyla, dressed in her normal attire without her whip, stood near the desk that Miss Decibel was working at, meaning that he would have to hold off on placing the third device until he figured out what was going on here... and, as he looked at the villain that had ruined part of Carmelita's life, he had to wonder how she was here, because Secretary Sen hadn't said anything about her leaving the prison cell that she had been locked in after her arrest.
"Yes, he has a strict time schedule and even I must abide by it." Miss Decibel replied, though at the same time she put her pen down and faced the newcomer, indicating that they actually knew each other in some manner, but even as that happened Clockwerk opened his eyes and opened a link to the others, as this was something they needed to see for themselves, "What business do you have with me, Neyla?"
"I just wanted to remind you what your target was," Neyla stated, to which she raised her right hand and put Galleth's cane on the table for a moment, causing Clockwerk, and no doubt the rest of the gang, to open their mouths in disbelief, before Neyla chuckled for a few seconds, "Le Paradox had the feeling that little Penelope would have betrayed him, in some manner anyway, so he broke me out of my cell and enlisted Arpeggio's aid as well, though he put Arpeggio back in his cell once he completed his work on my new form. You should have seen the look on Gallath's face when I revealed my true form to him and beat him into submission, because he called me a 'demon' before I knocked him out. It was one of the best reactions I've gotten so far... and I can't wait to show Sly and Carmelita the new me, before I tear both of their pathetic and meaningless lives apart!"
Clockwerk switched his gaze for a moment and viewed Neyla's body, though instead of finding the internal body that matched a normal person, like he would expect from Sly or one of the other gang members, he discovered a metallic body that would have matched his own, even though he was the only one that knew the specific combination needed to forge a body like the one he possessed. He watched as the coloration drained from Neyla's body, turning it to a metallic color that was like what he had, before her body cracked and shifted, as her legs took on the stance of a horse's back legs, though her feet became clawed with three tips that looked as sharp as his talons. Her body became more lithe than it already was, though her tail thickened to the point where it looked like a lizard's tail and moved in response to either her mental commands or the movement of her body, though the tip on the end looked like it could pierce thick armor and there were several spikes on her tail as well. Her arms broke in half, doubling the amount of arms and hands she had from two to four, and all of her fingers became sharpened claws, while two carved spikes erupted from her back, giving her a more menacing look, something that was boosted when her face took on a menacing look of it's own and two horns grew out of the sides of her head... before her skin turned crimson red, while her insides glowed in such a way that made parts of her body look like fire was reflected on her body.
Neyla hadn't been kidding, her new form looked like a demon's body that was meant to install terror into her foes, or her prey he mentally added, and Clockwerk could tell that Miss Decibel seemed terrified of her, despite the fact that they were allies in Le Paradox's schemes... before the elephant nodded and Neyla chuckled, with a laugh that sounded like it could come from a demon, before she walked out of the room with her prize from Galleth's time period, where the sound of her changing back to normal could be heard before she was long gone.
Once he, Bentley, and Penelope were sure that Neyla was gone, and saved the questions for later, Clockwerk put the third device in position and let his friends activate them, to which the three devices started to play rock and roll music that drove Miss Decibel mental. When she moved to smash them, and hurt herself in the process, it created the opening for him to swoop in, drop off the carving of Le Paradox that contained the bug, and then get out of there before he was found out by their enemy, who was too preoccupied with getting at the music making devices to do anything else. From there he headed back to the safe house, where he found Bentley connecting to the future, as they needed to tell Secretary Sen about the terrible news they discovered, including Neyla's shocking surprise that she intended to use on whoever got in her way, even though her targets were Sly and Carmelita.
"Ah, Bentley, it is good to hear from you again." Secretary Sen said, to which an image of him appeared on their time space communicator, showing that he was in his office like usual, but this time around he seemed annoyed about something that had happened in their time period, "Have you defeated Miss Decibel yet?"
"Unfortunately not, though we're almost ready for the final operation." Bentley replied, indicating that they were at the end of their stay in this time period, though at the same time he nodded to Clockwerk, who uploaded the video he had taken and sent it to the future, for Secretary Sen to see, "Though there might be a complication or two, as it appears that Neyla's been broken out of her cell by Le Paradox, who got Arpeggio to build her an entirely new body that's demonic looking in it's transformed state, sent Arpeggio back to his cell at some point, and now she's allied with Le Paradox, even though her targets are Sly and Carmelita."
"You know, I was going to call and tell you that we found some imposters in Neyla and Arpeggio's cells," Secretary Sen told them, though that meant that when Neyla meant Arpeggio had been imprisoned again she meant wherever their main foe was holding him, all so he could ensure Neyla's new metallic body was ready for war, "but it seems like it doesn't matter in the end, seeing how you already know that. I'll keep an eye out for Le Paradox in this time period, while you take care of Miss Decibel... and hopefully we can figure out a way to stop Neyla before she completes whatever plan she's been making since we imprisoned her."
Sly and his family glanced at each other for a moment, as they knew that Neyla would hate them from the bottom of her black heart, and this time they knew that it was only a matter of time until their foe came looking for them, which meant they had to be ready for anything and everything... including hoping that Neyla didn't interrupt them when they made their move against Miss Decibel in the very near future.