Sly Cooper: Family of Thieves

by Blackdrag-rose

Honor: Tar-Be Gone

As Gilda, Derpy, Bentley, and Clockwerk returned to the safe house, so they could ready themselves for the final task that needed to be complete before they started the operation that Bentley was planning, Sly and Carmelita headed out and headed towards the mission point that was nearby. Gilda and Derpy found that Sly was carrying what appeared to be a disguise of some kind as he and Carmelita departed from the building, though the pair found that there happened to be no guards on their way to the area that Bentley wanted them to head to. Sly would have expected Octavio to have posted more of his guards around the city, since they had smashed the Ferris Wheel that he was using the pump the tar, took his picture while he was turning all those valves, and broke several parts of his operation that would have had other targets in the past call in additional reinforcements, which was why he was confused as they followed the streets. Carmelita, on the other hand, was more than happy with this situation, as this meant that they would be able to get to their destination rather easily and start the mission without being seen, but that didn't mean that she didn't keep her eyes open for anything and everything that might interrupt their mission.

Once the two of them reached the area that the final mission was located in, which happened to be situated above one of the three coffee houses that were scattered throughout the area of Venice they were in, they stopped and pulled out their binocucoms, as they wanted to double check what they were supposed to do before they got underway.

"Octavio keeps the blueprints to his main tar pumping station in three parts." Bentley informed them, referring to information that he had gained from the computer that Clockwerk had hacked into earlier, along with anything that he was able to gain on his own, "Each is cleverly hidden behind a painting inside one of his 'legit' coffee houses."

"He's not very subtle about where they're located," Carmelita commented, as she was staring down at the coffee house that was down below them, where she found one of the flashlight guards standing guard in front of the door, one that looked bored out of his mind, "especially since he's posted a full-time guard in front of a coffee house."

"Since we destroyed his Ferris Wheel, he's gone all out on the security." Bentley replied, confirming their thoughts on why Octavio had increased the security around the area, even though they hadn't seen anything since they left the safe house so the could reach this area, "In fact, he's got all his guards checking up on each other. If we're going to get inside and at the blueprints, we can't raise any suspicion."

"Based on the disguise you crafted earlier, I think we understand the plan." Sly said, where he looked down at the disguise that he had grabbed on their way out of the safe house, which resembled the attire that the flashlight guards were wearing, "I'll approach the guard while in disguise and pretend to take the next shift. When the coast is clear, Carmelita can head inside and swipe the blueprints from where Octavio hid them. With me standing out front, no one will know that something's up."

"When you're talking to the guards, while wearing that disguise, make sure to memorize their passwords and say them back in a timely fashion." Bentley told him, though at the same time both Sly and Carmelita heard him tapping some keys as he brought up the list of possible codes that Octavio could have used, no doubt taken from the same computer that Clockwerk had hacked into, "Take too long or mess it up, and he'll know you're a phony."

Sly nodded and put down his binocucom for a moment, though that was when Carmelita watched as he carefully pulled on the disguise that he had been given and made sure that it rested over his body, hiding his normal attire as he stashed both his hat and his cane in a safe spot that couldn't easily be spotted, before he looked like a skinny and not muscular version of the flashlight guards. Carmelita nodded and watched as Sly carefully dropped down onto the street near them and approached the guard that was standing in front of the coffee house that was their destination, purposely stepping into the light so he could get the guard's attention.

"Halt!" the guard said, shining his flashlight on Sly for a moment as he growled, indicating that he wasn't in the mood for games and wanted to make sure that Sly was who he appeared to be, not even bothering to take into account that Sly wasn't carrying a weapon or a flashlight, "Tell me the day time password."

"Alto, alto, base, base." Sly replied, as that was what Bentley whispered into his ear the moment he heard which code the guard was using, while at the same time he hoped that it was the correct code, otherwise this was going to get messy when the guard raised his weapon to attack him, while at the same time using his barely practiced Italian accent to help convince the man that he was who he claimed he was.

"Okay, I guess you're the relief shift." the guard said, his defenses lowering for a moment, which made sense thanks to the code that Sly had said and the attire that he was wearing, though at the same time both Sly and Carmelita noticed that he seemed very happen to see Sly, "Thanks for coming early, I've got a'big plans for tonight! Carnival! Good time, eh?"

It was in the following moment that the guard walked away from the door of the coffee house and headed to wherever he was planning on going, since it appeared that he had big plans for tonight, though at the same time Carmelita dropped down and approached the door... while at the same time Bentley, listening in on what had been said, had to say something before they moved forward.

"I honestly can't believe that worked!" Bentley exclaimed, shocked by either the fact that his plan had worked better than he thought it did, or the fact that the guards in this city were too stupid to sense that something was wrong about the situation, "Sly, you've got the worst Italian accent I've ever heard!... No offense."

"None taken." Sly replied, as he knew that his fake accent was terrible and was honestly surprised that it had worked as well as it had, though at the same time he approached the door and pulled it open, where Carmelita smiled and headed inside so she could find what they came for.

As Carmelita entered the building she found that this was, quite literally, the first coffee house she had ever seen with wall-to-wall laser security, but, as luck would have it, there happened to be enough tables within range of each other, ones that she used to cross over the lasers and reach the other side. As she landed on the other side of the coffee house she found that Octavio really was into old school tactics, especially since she was staring at a painting safe, though this was where her thief training came in handy once more as she carefully studied the painting. Sly had told her that one of the things he remembered about his father was that he used to crack these all the time and even tried to teach it to Sly, who had a hard time actually cracking these things, which was why he was surprised when she was able to do something that he had trouble with within the first few tries. The trick, as she quickly discovered, was that the combination to the safe was actually hidden somewhere inside the artwork, carefully hidden and generally someone needed to use a magnifying glass to see the small numbers, but even then it wasn't long before she spotted an area that looked slightly different from the others and spotted the combination.

Once she had the combination memorized she carefully moved the paining up on the hinge it was attached to and input 4-7-9 into the tumblers that were in front of her, where the safe opened and she retrieved the blueprints, before she turned around and headed outside.

The moment Carmelita was outside Sly smiled, as he was glad to see that she was able to use the training he had given her to get the information that they had come for, though as she moved out for the next coffee house, via the rooftops, Sly walked the old fashioned way and made sure not to run into any guards. The main reason he was doing this was because he didn't want to take the disguise off and on so many times in a row, so with Carmelita moving on ahead he knew that the area would be clear of enemies on the roofs and that he would have a clear path towards the front door of the coffee house. As it turned out his next destination was actually on the street close to the safe house, one that was slightly higher than the one the safe house was on, but that didn't distract him as he carefully made his way up the ramp in front of him and walked over to where the second flashlight guard was located, purposely stepping into the light to gain his attention for a few moments.

"Halt!" the second guard said, staring at Sly for a few moments, though while he seemed annoyed to have to go through the whole asking of a code and seeing if it was the right one, as Sly imagined many of the guards were annoyed with, he also seemed a little happy as well, "What's the cafe password?"

"Base, base, base, soprano." Sly replied, repeating the code that Bentley offered him, because he had the feeling that this guy must have drawn the short straw or something and just wanted to have fun when Carnival started, which meant that he was hoping that Sly was who he thought he was.

"Ah am I glad you're here." the guard exclaimed, showing how happy he was that Sly had come early, as if he was actually the relief shift that he had been waiting for, even if that wasn't the truth of the matter, "Mama's making spaghetti tonight and I'm starving. I'm gonna eat like three, no, four plates full!"

"Guess a'you really like her cooking." Sly commented, as he honestly didn't know what to say to a statement like that, because he never actually took the time to take to a guard and see what they were thinking of the time that he and his gang were pulling a heist or an operation, making him wonder if the other guards that worked for all the other targets would have been similar to this guy.

"Mama-mia! I want to be buried in her sauce, it's heaven!" the guard proclaimed, though that was followed by him happily heading down the street so he could head home, change out of his guard attire, and then enjoy what sounded like a nice dinner with his mother, and whoever else was there, before enjoying Carnival.

"Any problems with that guy?" Carmelita asked, as she had been concerned that the guard might have thought that something was strange about the situation, but after seeing the smile on his face, and how he walked for a few seconds, she knew that something had definitely happened.

"He said he wanted to buried in his mom's pasta sauce." Sly replied, as he really didn't understand the man's strange fascination behind liking his mother's pasta so much, but, after thinking about the dinner that the gang shared with Carmelita's family, he guessed that he might have a good idea of what the guard was thinking about.

"Yeah, that's, uh... that's strange." Carmelita said, though she pushed that thought out of her mind as Sly opened the door of the coffee house, to which she slipped inside and continued her search for the second blueprint as her boyfriend stood guard outside.

As she entered the coffee house she discovered that this one only had searchlights, where were even easier to deal with than the floor lasers in the first building she had entered, which was why she was able to get to the other side of the room and face the painting safe in a matter of seconds. While she started to study the picture of a swamp, and wondered why Octavio would choose such a thing for a coffee house, she overheard Sly making comments on the strange guard's fascination with pasta, making it look like he was a guard that was talking to himself about what a fellow guard had told him, so the other guards wouldn't bother him for some time. Despite the noise in her ear, which she was happy to hear since she was wondering some of the same things that Sly was talking about, she was able to find and enter the code, 9-6-8, which allowed her to withdraw the second blueprint and leave the coffee house. Even as Sly opened the door for her, and she walked outside, she knew that he was still thinking about something, and she had the feeling that it was annoying someone that was listening in to what they were doing.

"Carmelita, maybe there's a good Italian restaurant around here that we can..." Sly started to say, but before he could finish his statement he heard a buzzing in his ear, the same one that Carmelita heard not a few seconds later, though they both knew what that meant.

"Enough with the sauce!" Bentley exclaimed, as he couldn't believe how unfocused Sly had become after meeting the one guard that loved his mother's pasta sauce, while at the same time not believing that Carmelita was allowing him to act in such a manner, "Keep your focus, we're on a job here. Thugs everywhere, death around every corner!"

"You're right. We got one more coffee house to hit, then we're done." Sly replied, though at the same time he grinned, as he knew the look that had appeared on Carmelita's face and he knew that she was agreeing with what he had been about to say before Bentley cut him off.

"Yes, now you're talking sense." Bentley said, as it felt good to have Sly back on track, because some times he felt that it was hard to keep his mind on a certain task when he found something like that guard and his fascination with his mother's pasta sauce, which was why he was glad that Carmelita was with him to keep him focused.

"And then we eat." Carmelita said, though as she jumped onto the nearby roof, and headed out for the third coffee house, she heard some of the gang laugh while Bentley said nothing, indicating that he couldn't believe that she was taking Sly's side on the matter.

Sly knew that most of them had to be getting hungry, as they actually hadn't eaten anything since they arrived in Venice, and that was why most of them had laughed at what Carmelita said, even though Bentley eventually sighed and went along with the rest of the group. A few moments later he started his walk towards the third coffee house, which was actually across the shopping area that the police station was located in, surprising him for a moment since he expected the last one to be closer to where Octavio's opera house was located, but this was good for them. As he suspected there was a flashlight guard standing in front of the door to the coffee house, one that didn't look bored like the other two that he had encountered so far, so Sly carefully approached him as he stepped into the light, allowing the guard to turn towards him for a moment.

"Hey you!" the third guard stated, his tone revealing that he was annoyed with spotting one of his co-workers walking around the area, though the smirk that followed it told Sly that he enjoyed watching the others squirm as they struggled to remember the various codes that they had been forced to remember, "Tell me the day time password!"

"Alto, alto, base, base." Sly replied, though at the same time he wished that this mission was slightly different from the other ones, so he could smack the guard upside the head with his cane and knock him out, as there was something about this guy that he didn't like... and he had the feeling that he'd find out soon enough.

"Yeah, you know the code, but what's my nickname." the guard commented, showing that, despite the fact that Sly was able to give him the password that he had asked for, he wasn't about to move until a second, and more personal, question was answered, "There's only one Tony B. on the payroll, and I'm famous in the family."

"I'm a'new, just got called in from Rome." Sly answered, hoping that this would be able to convince the guard that he had better move on and not waste time with him, though at the same time he found that he would have preferred talking to the pasta guard again.

"They know me in Rome. I'm practically the mayor of organized crime in Rome." the guard, Tony B., said, acting like a big shot of some kind, like he was the biggest and baddest person around the area, before a big angry frown appeared on his face as he stared at Sly, "You telling me you never heard my nickname there?"

In was in that moment that Bentley, receiving a suggestion from Carmelita, had Sly's binocucom ring like it was an actual phone, allowing Sly to make up an excuse that couldn't be proven true unless the guard checked in with Octavio, which he may or may not do depending on what happened next.

"Uh, my cell phone's a'going off... I should take a'this call, could be the boss." Sly stated, knowing that the guard could easily call him out on this, but at the same time most of the guards seemed to have some sort of respect for their boss and might think it bad to interrupt someone that was receiving a call from him.

"Yeah, okay." Tony B. replied, though the look on his face told Sly that the next time they crossed paths, if he still didn't know his nickname, there would be consequences for his actions and that he would take immediate actions, to which Sly walked away and thought of a game plan.

Carmelita, knowing that Sly didn't want to take off his disguise until the mission was done, did the next best thing she could think of, she had Sly follow her towards the guards that were in the area, which was easy since there was a pigeon guard patrolling the area around the birdbath that the girls had seen Octavio pumping tar into... and, upon spotted Sly as he walked down the street, the pigeon guard was the first to react to the presence of another guard.

"You there," the pigeon guard said, stopping Sly in his tracks, who was thankful that he could hide the smile that was on his face before he turned around and faced the guard, otherwise this would have been ruined before he even had the chance to speak the code, "What was last night's password?"

"Alto, tenor, tenor, alto." Sly replied, showing that he had a knowledge of the codes, even though it was Bentley who was giving them to him, but he kept his mouth shut about that and only repeated the necessary words to the pigeon guard that had stopped him.

"Okay, you're legit." the pigeon guard stated, though a pleased look appeared on his face, showing that he was glad that he had found a friend and not someone that was pretending to be a guard, even though his thought process would have been severely wrong.

"Hey, you know Tony B's nickname?" Sly asked, because he was hoping that the first person he asked could give hi the information that he needed, otherwise he'd have to go out and have Carmelita find him another guard to ask, something that he honestly didn't want to do.

"Tony B!" the pigeon guard replied, though he did laugh for a few moments, indicating that there was something about the guard in question that a lot of people disliked or found funny, meaning that this might be harder than what Sly thought it would be when he started this mission, "That cannoli, he's a what's it called, an "ego maniac"... I don't know nothin' about him, don't wanna know."

Sly, despite not getting the information that he wanted, thanked the guard for his time and wished him well for Carnival, since every other guard seemed to care about the upcoming event, and, as he walked towards the next target that Carmelita had found, he could hear the guard thanking him... especially when he walked right up to where one of the cat guards was standing and gained his attention.

"Hey you!" the cat guard said, stopping Sly in his tracks, meaning that he wasn't paying attention to what was going on around him, otherwise he would have known that Sly had already answered a code question and shouldn't have to answer one again, "Give me the cafe password."

"Base, base, base, soprano." Sly said, though he was thankful that Bentley and Clockwerk were able to get this information out of the computer, otherwise he was sure that the plan would have been knock them out and get the blueprints before they came to.

"Yep, that's the password." the cat guard replied, though at the same time he glanced at the other guards that were across the area from where they were standing, where he watched them repeat the codes to each other before moving on with their lives, "Sometimes I forget 'em you know?"

"You and me a'both pal." Sly stated, this time acting like he had remembered the right code and that there were times where it took him some time to get the code out before he annoyed whoever was checking with him, "Hey, you know what Tony B's nickname is?"

"Yeah, that fathead likes to call himself Tony 'the Killer' B." the cat guard said, not even caring about his co-worker as he laughed for a few moments, showing that not a lot of people cared for Tony B. and that they felt that his choice of a nickname was terrible, "What a idiot."

"I couldn't agree more." Sly agreed, though at the same time he noticed that the guard appeared to be lost in thought about something and decided that now was as good a time to make his way back to the guard that he needed to get by, while at the same time Carmelita headed back there as well.

As they both expected Tony B. was still standing in front of the door to the third coffee house, looking like he was going to rip off someone's head or something, and Sly walked back into the light, allowing him to shine his light on him as he prepared himself once more.

"You there!" Tony B. said, though while he recognized the guard that was in front of him, since it was the only raccoon on the payroll apparently, he decided to see if he knew another password before he asked the second question once more, "What's the midnight password?"

"Alto, base, alto, alto." Sly replied, though this time he was ready for the second question, and Carmelita was hiding off in the shadows, waiting for him to get the guard out of the way before she went in and got the blueprints that they needed for the final operation.

"So bigshot, what's my nickname?" Tony B. asked, but he was fully prepared to punish Sly if he failed to give up the right nickname, as that was his way of ensuring that his name wasn't forgotten and that everyone feared him by the time he was done with each job he was given.

"Oh come on! Everyone's a'heard of Tony 'the Killer' B!" Sly stated, where he acted like he had known the nickname all along and that the call had been important enough to stop him from answering the question the first time, "You're a'the terror of every playground from here to Sicily."

"Ha, ha, ha, real funny. Least I'm not on guard duty during Carnival." Tony B. said, with what appeared to be the biggest smug look that Sly had ever seen, despite the mask hiding most of his face, while at the same time revealing that this guy didn't seem to care much for his co-workers either, "Who's got the last laugh now tough guy? Me! That's who."

As Tony B. wandered off, and left Sly in charge of the door to the coffee house, Carmelita emerged from where she had been hiding and slipped into the building as Sly held the door open for her, which he closed and made it look like no one had done inside. Carmelita found a combination of both floor lasers and searchlights in her path, but, once again, her thief training made such things simply too easy for her to take on and she was able to get to the painting safe within a decent amount of time, all without tripping an alarm. This time she discovered that the code was 1-1-3 and retrieved the blueprints that they had come for, though as she made her way outside she found that the third safe was tied to an alarm and both she and Sly hightailed it out of the area before any of the other guards came to investigate the noise, who also ended up fighting with each other over what happened, knocking a few of their fellow guards out in the process. It was amusing to watch, since they didn't seem to care about the coffee house at all, but after a few moments Sly and Carmelita headed back to the safe house to learn what they needed to do next.

---

When the entire gang was back in the safe house, and had cooled down from their various missions, Bentley explained that Sly would entered the opera house and use his disguise to get down to the tar pumps, where he would let both himself and Clockwerk into the area so they could bomb the pumps. Following that came Bentlet's insane idea, getting onstage with Octavio and doing and opera duel with him, merely as a distraction while someone cut the ropes of the chandelier that was hanging above the stage, allowing them to drop it right on his head and knock him out. In addition to that Carmelita would be making sure that Judy was in position so she and her task force could arrest Octavio, though while it would be assisting an injured person at first the gang knew what he meant, and hopefully they could dismantle or at least disconnect the connection between the demolition device and the actual devices that it was connected to. By the time all of that happened, and they waited a while, Murray would be able to come with them since the black waters were sure to be clear by that point in time, which made the gang happy when they thought about bringing Murray back into the gang at last.

It sounded like an insane plan that had a high risk of failure, since Octavio was slightly different than the targets they had taken out in the past, but Bentley was convinced that it could work and the team trusted him, despite the fact that many of them were just going to be spectators this time around. Despite that fact the group that wasn't doing anything this time around listened to Sly's binocucom as he made his way to the entrance of the opera house, convinced the guard that he was one of them, and made his way inside, where he began his journey to the pump room. As that happened Diz was able to find Murray and convince him to be present when they took down the man that had caused the water to turn black, especially when Sly encountered Octavio and revealed that he knew the 'Secret Soprano Password', where Octavio ordered him to tell the other guards that he wasn't to be disturbed during his comeback recital, completely thinking that Sly was actually one of his guards. Sly even managed to get their target to help him with the double button security door that was blocking his path, allowing him to enter the pump room and let both Bentley and Clockwerk in, where they rained pure destruction down upon the pumps once they were sure that no one would come running to investigate the noise.

Once that was done the three of them used the side path that Sly and Carmelita had used to get to the computer, the same one that Clockwerk had hacked into, and escaped the area long before Octavio came out, who simply stared at Bentley when he made the request to perform opera with him, despite how much he was shaking at the moment. Octavio, true to what Bentley said he would do, accepted him on the stage, even though no one else besides the gang, dressed up as civilians to sell the illusion to Octavio, had come to watch, and soon the two of them started to sing notes while Sly undid the ropes holding the chandelier that was hanging above them. Despite having next to no practice on the subject Bentley seemed to be doing quite fine, as it appeared that Octavio's eagerness to pin him down and hurt him was enough to make him not even suspect that someone was above him, while at the same time Clockwerk, who was sitting behind Derpy so the mobster didn't see him and flee, grew angry as he watched Octavio. The members of the gang that were nearby knew why the ancient owl was getting mad, because he had actually found a friend in Bentley and didn't want him to get hurt in some manner... but, fortunately for them, he didn't have to change forms, as Sly as able to drop the chandelier at the right moment and Octavio was taken out before he even knew what had hit him.

As all of that happened, and the stage was crushed, Murray's old destructive habits came back, much to everyone's joy when they saw him cheering, and the gang vacated from the area, allowing Judy and her team to come in and arrest Octavio for his crimes, though she did glance over to where Carmelita was watching and nodded her head once, before they left the area.

After that happened the gang spent the next few days hanging around the city, enjoying themselves and telling Murray about what he's missed since the day he left the gang and headed out to find peace, where he congratulated Carmelita on passing her trial with flying colors. In addition to that the gang made sure that Murray had a shower, a good one to get rid of the stink he had developed, and made sure he put on his old clothing and attire, announcing to the world that 'The Murray' had returned, putting a smile on everyone's faces at the same time. As Bentley predicted it took those couple of days for the tar to clear up and return the water to normal, much to Murray's joy, though once that happened Clockwerk had a surprise for them, or, more accurately, he had a surprise for both Sly and Carmelita. That surprise was a nice Italian dinner in one of the most popular Italian restaurants that was nearby, though none of the others complained, especially when he made sure they got a large order of pizza and other things to keep them away from the pair that were enjoying each other.

Gilda and Derpy were sure that it was a move on the ancient owl's part to show Sly that he cared about the gang and that he was sorry for what had happened, and they hoped that Sly was able to figure that out without being told, but at the very least Sly and Carmelita were enjoying themselves... that way they would be ready for whatever happened next.

Comments

[badninja]

I would feel sorry for Tony B but it sounds like he as some serious issues beyond his ego. I wonder what the groups next challenge will be?

[Midnight Moon]

So, how will Guru to Gilda, Derpy, and Diz? And how will their abilities react to The Mask of Dark Earth?