Sly Cooper: Family of Thieves

by Blackdrag-rose

Thievius: Mesa City

The first thing that Sly, Bentley, Murray, Gilda, and Derpy did, after departing from the Isle of Wrath, was head to a small abandoned factory that was a few hours away and set up a few obstacles so Sly, Gilda, and Derpy could practice the new moves they had picked up from the pages of the Thievius Raccoonus they had recovered so far. The technique that they devoted the majority of their time to learning, and all three of them agreed on this decision, was Rioichi Cooper's Ninja Spire Jump. The reasoning was because if Raleigh decided to put it inside his personal safe, that he was near at all times, it had to be important for them getting through some of the security measures that were waiting for them in Mesa City, where the second member of the Fiendish Five, Muggshot, was waiting for them. At the same time they spent an hour or two more on practicing the other techniques that they had picked up, making sure that they at least committed them to memory, before they returned the factory to how it looked and departed.

Once they were gone practicing for the morning Sly remained true to his word and the gang headed to England for a few days, where they took in the sights, visited a few landmarks, took a couple of pictures to show that they had been there, and made off with Her Majesties Crown Jewels... which Sly had been carrying in a bag while Bentley took a picture when he was right above a guard's head while Murray distracted him, before they all left. Sure enough Gilda found a newspaper with Carmelita on the front, with Raleigh behind held by one of the local police officers, with a headline that said 'Hot chick with gun busts amphibious yuckmouth', along with an article about 'mysterious figures eluding the authorities' that had a shadowy picture of sorts that represent all three of them. Bentley, of course, wasn't too happy about the article, as he was sure that it would only mean bad things for them in the future, but the siblings mostly ignored it as they enjoyed the rest of their short vacation... and learned that boats were making their way back onto the ocean now that the storm machine was offline, which made them all happy.

After a few days had gone by the gang gathered their stuff and set a course for Mesa City, giving Sly, Gilda, and Derpy a chance to study the part of the case file that pertained to Muggshot, especially since they had to travel over to another continent before they could get close to their target. The file said that whatever Muggshot lacked in brains he certainly made up for in brawn, making him the ruthless muscle of the Fiendish Five, before stating that he wasn't always the way he was these days. As it turned out Muggshot had actually been the neighborhood weakling when he was younger and was always getting picked on by everyone, though his only friends were those he found in the theater, which included his very first gangster. That, in turn, fueled his dreams of great power and respect, something that he eventually achieved due to his dedication, though once he reached the level he dreamed of the first report of him beating someone up was the trio of bullies that had picked on him when he was younger... and continued in a number of reports that detailed his various crimes over the years, until stopping when it said that he was in charge of Mesa City now.

None of them were exactly sure how Muggshot was able to take over the entirety of Mesa City, and the police file didn't go into details since Interpol didn't have all the information on what happened, but the gang was sure that they would figure out what happened when they arrived at their destination.

Despite the fact that Muggshot had been a member of the attack on Sly's house, before he wound up in the very orphanage where he met the rest of his family and gang, Sly, Gilda, and Derpy felt a little sorry for who Muggshot had been when he was younger. The older Muggshot, who was their target at the moment, they didn't feel sorry for since he had taken out Sly's father, and they were sure that he wasn't going to be happy to see them when they finally caught up with him. Their first task was reaching Mesa City, that 'thriving American boomtown' as Sly decided to call it at one point, before they started their hunt for Muggshot's Treasure Keys and pages of the Thievius Raccoonus... and then, eventually, take the fight to their main target.

---

When Murray finally reached the beginning of Muggshot's territory, as provided on the information that Raleigh had locked up in his safe, Sly, Gilda, and Derpy climbed out of the back of the van and smiled as they took in the sunlight, as it was a nice change of pace from the previous place they took on. If they so desired Gilda and Derpy could make short work of the entire approach area of Muggshot's base of operations, but at the same time both of them advised against it, since they had no idea where the guards were located and didn't want to set of the alarms just yet. As such the siblings moved forward and claimed the two clue bottles that were on their immediate left, surprising them for a moment, before they took turns climbing the pipe that was on the right side of the gate and came to a stop when they reached the platform that was on the very top of the gate.

The moment they came to a stop at the top of the gate, when they could see more of the area that rested in front of them, the trio discovered that Mesa City wasn't like what Sly remembered and it appeared that there weren't any people, save for Muggshot's guards, in the city at the moment.

"Sly, I thought you said that Mesa City was going to be loud and busy." Bentley said over the binocucom, while at the same time voicing the thoughts that were going through all of their minds at that very moment, because they were expecting people and found only guards patrolling the area.

"That's what all of the papers said," Sly replied, remembering what he had read from all of the various papers that had articles about Mesa City, though it was clear that none of them had said anything about the state that Muggshot had inflicted upon the city after he claimed everything, "At the very least this will make sneaking into the main part of Muggshot's base all that much easier."

"You know what, this place looks more like a ghost town than an actual city." Derpy commented, as she was taking in the ruined parts of the buildings, signs that appeared to be offline, and the occasional tumbleweed that moved across the road that they would be following.

"Well, since ghosts don't actually exist, we won't have to worry about them here," Gilda stated, to which she glanced down at the various poles and points where they could use their old skills and the new Ninja Spire Jump to get through the area that was in front of them, "Come on, let's get moving before one of the guards notices us standing here."

Sly was the first one to use the new technique to cross the points that were in front of them, allowing him to move over the guard that was standing guard in the area below them, though at the same time he noticed three clue bottles and a safe down there. Gilda and Derpy followed after him, mostly to get some additional practice with Rioichi's move, before jumping behind the guard and knocked him out, allowing them to collect all five of the bottles that were in the area around them before they rejoined their brother. From there they dropped down into the area that was in front of them and spotted a dog that was tied to a post, who happened to be chewing on a bone and seemed to be ignoring them the entire time they were there. Since it didn't seem to care about them, especially when it eventually noticed them and turned away after seeing Gilda, the siblings collected the pair of bottles to their right before climbing the pipe that the dog was 'guarding'.

Before they moved on both Gilda and Derpy flew out over the lake area, or more like an area that was almost overflowing with water, and collected the four bottles that were standing on ruined pieces of wooden carts, before returning to Sly and sent the contents over to Bentley. After that they crossed the gap that was in front of them and ignored the terrified dog that was in front of them, making Sly realize that the more domesticated dogs understood that, from a glance, that Gilda was a predator of sorts and that it wasn't wise to provoke her. That was his assumption as to why the dogs weren't trying to charge at them and bite their legs or something, and he couldn't think of another reason as to why that would be the case, but he decided that now wasn't the time to be questioning something like that. Of course while he was thinking about that his sisters knocked out the plank wielding guard that was in front of them, allowing them to claim three more bottles before they climbed onto the nearby car and crossed the next gap... where they encountered a new type of alarm system, one that none of them had seen before today.

The siblings glanced at each other for a moment, as they were at a loss for words at the moment, before they pulled out their binocucoms and let Bentley see what they were looking at, as all of them were hoping that he had some information on the new obstacle.

"Hey Bentley, what's with those flashing lights?" Derpy asked, as the floor alarms flashed and changed to a new area that they were looking over, which happened to be a part of the floor that was connected to the one they had been over a few seconds ago.

"The latest in high-tech security; electronic floor sensors." Bentley told them, though while he had known that these were in development, and might have been bought by people once they were ready, he honestly wasn't expecting to see some of them here, "Step on them and you're a goner."

"Nice touch." Sly said, though he liked the additional challenge that Muggshot was offering them, as this meant that they had to be careful before they reached the alarm that was connected to the floor beams, since he was sure that all of the security beams were attached to the same alarm.

"They're safe to walk on while flashing, but it also means they're about to switch to a different sector." Bentley added, revealing the exact method for them to deal with the new obstacle, something that he likely uncovered in his readings of how this particular device worked, which they were thankful for.

As Sly started to make his way through the ruined structure that the floor beams were in, so he could see how they worked for himself, Gilda flew to the top of a nearby downed power pole and collected the bottle at the very end as Derpy opened the safe and gathered it's pair of bottles. With those three in hand the sisters returned to the end of the structure that Sly had entered and watched him move to the end, where the alarm was sitting, and he beckoned for them to follow him once they were ready. Both of them discovered that walking in the unguarded area was a good thing to do and that it was okay if they switched to the flashing area when the lights started to change, allowing them to bypass the floor beams and let Sly turn it off before they moved on. When they emerged from the structure they noticed a guard holding onto a ball that was attached to a chain, which he would spin if they decided to get close, but what he wasn't expecting was either Gilda or Derpy flying around to his blind spot and knocked him out before he could react... to which the siblings collected the pair of bottles to their left before heading up to the stone formation that was in front of them.

At the end of the stone formation was a dog that was currently messing with a deck of cards, meaning that he would throw them at whoever was coming his way, though Derpy appeared behind him and knocked him out, allowing her siblings to catch up with her... while they collected the pair of bottles to their right, the one that was hidden beneath them, and the trio that was near a cliff off on the far right.

From there they returned to the main road and walked towards the oddly placed compressor and carefully moved through the machine, though they made sure to grab the bottle off to the entrance's right before they made their way to the other side. Luck was on their side, as none of them got smashed in the process, though when the siblings noticed the wooden fences that were blocking their way both Gilda and Derpy flew forward and knocked out the three plank wielding guards that patrolled this area. That allowed Sly to open the safe and collect it's pair of bottles, before climbing onto a pipe that brought him to three more bottles that weren't on the path they were following, though they paused for a moment and stared out at the vault that they were going to have to leave behind until Bentley told them that he had cracked the code that the bottles contained.

After tearing their attention away from the vault they headed through the compressor machine that was in front of them and knocked out the chain wielding guard that was on the other side, as well as collecting the bottle that was on the other side of the machine, before heading inside the slightly shifting ruined train cars that were in front of them. As they avoided the moving beams and the floor beams, one at a time like usual, they also made sure to collect the bottle that happened to have been placed in this area, before turning off the alarm and swinging across the gap that was in front of them. In the third car they did the same thing as the first car, without the oddly placed clue bottle anyway, and reached the end in no time, where they turned off the alarm and climbed the pole up to the area where the first of Muggshot's Treasure Keys happened to be resting. There happened to be a card throwing guard waiting near the case the key was inside, to which the siblings knocked him out before they collected the three bottles that were out in the open and the two that were inside the nearby safe... which was followed by Bentley informing them that he had the cracked the code, to which Sly nodded to his sisters for a moment.

Derpy smiled for a moment, as Gilda hadn't opened her wings, and took to the skies as she raced back to where the vault was located, though when she reached her destination she input the code that Bentley told her, 3-1-4, and her smile widened as she pulled out the page containing Rob McCooper's Explosive Hat technique. With that in hand, and the calling card in place, she flew back to where her siblings were waiting for her, where Sly collected the Treasure Key and used it to open the lock on the tunnel that was in front of them. The moment the path was opened, and they were still surprised that the first key in the various hideouts was placed in such a way, the siblings moved forward and ventured into the main area of Muggshot's operations... where they walked out onto an overlook that allowed them to observe the area that was in front of them, including the building that contained Muggshot's name, a blown up version of the person, and a wooden barricade that was blocking off the main entrance.

"Well... Muggshot's certainly not shy about revealing that this is his turf," Gilda commented, as while she, Derpy, and Sly took in the area, by using their binocucoms like usual, they were also making observations on what was in front of them at the very moment.

"How are we supposed to find him?" Bentley asked, though at the same time the trio heard the sounds of some papers being moved, revealing that he likely had the plans for the city in front of him, or at least the plans that had been inside Raleigh's safe, "Mesa City is a big place."

"Obviously, since he's a bulldog and dogs like to mark their territory," Derpy said, to which her siblings followed her gaze towards the very top of the building that she had been staring at, or more accurately the object that was on the very top of the building, "this building has to be where he's hold up at the moment, since his name and likeness is everywhere. If we're right about this being where Muggshot is hiding, and I'm certain that we're right, maybe he's up at the top of the building, inside that giant fire hydrant."

"That's sound some logic." Bentley replied, though his tone said that he wasn't about to admit that he hadn't even considered that train of thought before now, while at the same he noticed the obstacle that was blocking their way at that very moment, "Now the three of you just need to find a way to break into the building's base."

"Oh, I think we'll be able to come up with a way to get inside the building." Sly commented, as he turned his gaze towards the red convertible that was in front of the building, which appeared to be in the process of being worked on and needed three Treasure Keys to unlock it.

Sly, Derpy, and Gilda smiled as they noticed three markers telling them the first set of objectives that they needed to complete before they could break into the base of the building and take on whatever else was inside the structure, before they could take on Muggshot and recover his section of the Thievius Raccoonus.

Comments

[Bookwurm666]

Sure enough Gilda found a newspaper with Carmelita on the front, with Raleigh behind held by one of the local police officers, with a headline that said 'Hot chick with gun busts amphibious yuckmouth', along with an article about 'mysterious figures eluding the authorities' that had a shadowy picture of sorts that represent all three of them.