Sly Cooper: Family of Thieves

by Blackdrag-rose

Time: Jurassic Thievery

When Murray, Diz, and Bob returned with the parts that Bentley needed so he could repair the time machine, which had been easy for them to get since all three of them had used their own abilities to get the job gone, Bentley had the three of them relax for now as he headed out of the safe house. Derpy followed after him, mostly because she and Gilda really hadn't done much since their arrival and she was getting tired of doing nothing, but she was happy to see that Bentley was okay with having some company for his operation, especially since she might be able to assist him in some aspects. The two of them made their way over to one of the side passages that would take them into one of the area of Grizz's operation, as there was something that Bentley wanted to figure out before they made their move and Derpy was more than willing to assist him in getting the information that he required. At the same time, however, she also noticed that a few of the guards were carrying some interesting amber fossils in their pockets and, since she was a thief at heart, she swiped a few of them, as she was sure that they could either put them inside the Cooper Vault or sell them later on.

It didn't take them long to reach their destination, where they found no guards standing around the entrance, which was odd when they considered that this had to be an important route that Grizz might take, but it gave them time to make sure that no one was watching them, as well as giving Bentley some time to check his gear before they started.

"Let's see here, my data systems are okay, I have sufficient dart ammunition, the pressure in my tires is perfect," Bentley commented, where he pulled out and checked the items in question himself, even spinning his tires for a few seconds to be sure that they were prepared for the mission, before a smile appeared on his face, "Okay, I'm all set."

"An operative can never go wrong in checking their gear." Derpy said, because she knew that the few times she had been tasked with holding something she always made sure that whatever equipment she was carrying was exactly as Bentley intended it to be, "So, what exactly are we looking for?"

"The other reason why Grizz is still here," Bentley replied, though at the same time he and Derpy moved into the ice cave that was in front of them, as it was time to see what their foe was up to, before he thought about something else that he could add, "El Jefe took the job because Le Paradox needed someone to find Rioichi's cane, and it also helped that he conquered the land around the sushi shop, as he could have sold the land once the operation was over and hand the currency over to a museum or some other organization for a load of cash. Toothpick seemed to be the prime candidate for the Old West, given his fascination and potential knowledge of the time period, and his love for gold seemed to be just as important as his mission, he he gives Le Paradox the cane and he gets to keep all the gold. Grizz, on the other hand, we still have no idea what he's up to, besides stealing the very first Cooper Cane."

"Maybe he just likes to paint?" Derpy said, as she honestly wasn't sure what Grizz was up to, but at the same time she knew that they were there to figure it out and it appeared that they were ready to go, "Oh, and I'm sure you don't need me to remind you, but this should be a good place to use that Thermovision option you've been working on... I have the feeling that it will come in handy in this area."

Bentley nodded, though instead of saying anything they both went quiet as they came upon a chamber that looked like a storage area of sorts, with a pair of Le Paradox's rat guards patrolling the area, so Bentley used a sleep dart on one of them and Derpy guided the gas through a little cut in the other guard's suit that she made with her powers, knocking him out in the process. From there Bentley used his Thermovision to find the path that they needed to take, which was hidden behind some fallen rocks that he cleared with a silent bomb, his own creation, and the two of them moved up the path, where Derpy let Bentley use his bombs as she kept an eye out for trouble. Of course since Bentley was in charge of finding their way through the area they were in, and his focus needed to be on that, Derpy smashed the small scorpions that happened to be in their way, before Bentley blew up a stack of bones that allowed them to reach the other side of the upper level. That, in turn, let them walk down a path that brought them to the area that Grizz was standing in, though at the same time they found that he was standing in front of a large painting that looked more modern than one might think, and several of the items, all from the time period they were in, had a faint blue glow around them.

What also interested Derpy was the fact that there was an ice statue of the bear nearby, one with a penguin that was sliding on it's stomach, a golden chain like the one Grizz was wearing, and an interesting looking apple that was held in the air above Grizz's face, like he was preparing to eat it.

"Oh yeah, they say I'm like DaVinci, master with a brush." Grizz said, speaking to himself as he waved his brush on the painting for a moment, like he was putting the finishing touches on it or something, and it was clear that he had no idea that they were hiding near the opening that connected to the chamber he was in, "When my art is on the wall, it makes the crowd hush..."

A few seconds later Grizz rushed out of the room, heading through the second opening, and the way closed behind him, to which Derpy tapped Bentley's shoulder and beckoned to the three objects on the statue, as there were the only objects that were repeated on the statue and the painting. Bentley nodded his understanding, as he had come to the same conclusion that she had, and hit the three objects on the large painting that mirrored the statue, to which the door opened and allowed the two of them to continue after their target, as they still hadn't figured out his true goal yet. The only new thing they had to be careful about was the rolling eggs that were down the new tunnel, which weren't hard to get around thanks to the small side holes that allowed them to duck into them when an egg was coming and then move again when the object was no longer an obstacle. It wasn't long before they reached the end of the tunnel and found Grizz standing in front of some mammoth guards, like he was talking to them, though that was before he pulled out three large green colored crystals and tossed them to the guards, which he followed up with walking into another tunnel that sealed itself behind him... and, since it appeared that he was a fan of himself like Toothpick was, there was a carving of himself on the door that now blocked their way.

Fortunately Bentley was able to determine that the gemstones were the keys to the door and that three of the guards were carrying them, so he pinpointed which ones were carrying the goods and watched as Derpy silently approached each of the three guards, where she removed the gemstones with her cane and joined him by the door, allowing them to chase Grizz one it was out of the way... which involved heading down another tunnel that was like the previous one, to which they avoided the eggs and hazards before arriving at an area that was above their target and the nearby machine.

"The Grizz gotta put some art on ice, dig it up later for a big fat prize." Grizz said, though at the same time he activated the machine that he was standing near, one that started digging and carving into the ice wall that was in front of him the instant he did that, "Le Paradox is a stinky dude, and I'm getting real sick of his attitude."

"Well I'll be, it seems you were right in a way, Derpy." Bentley whispered, though he had long since gotten over the fact that Derpy was much smarter than she appeared to be, in fact he had to wonder if losing one of her eyes had refocused her mind and allowed her to better understand the world around her, and that wasn't taking into consideration the lessons that she, Gilda, and Diz received from Mz. Ruby, "It appears that Grizz is planting fake cave paintings and digging them up in the future... he's running a prehistoric art scam."

"It looks like most of the people Le Paradox have chosen are con artists in one form or another." Derpy replied, as that was the feeling that she had on the enemies they had faced off against so far, though it did make her wonder how many more underlings Le Paradox had for them to deal with, "I think it's time we got out of here."

Bentley nodded and the two of them departed from the area that they were in, retracing their steps through the tunnels and the chambers, as there was no reason for them to dart Grizz with some trackers at this point, not with all the work that Clockwerk was putting into mapping the entire complex that their foe controlled... and Bentley knew that it was time to see if he had completed his mission, as they couldn't risk moving until he had a firm understanding of where everything was and had a plan of attack in place.

---

When the two of them got back to the safe house they found Clockwerk, in his miniature form still, sitting on one of the wooden tiki-like statues, though upon their arrival he immediately sent over all the information that he had gathered and Bentley grinned, as it allowed the two of them to begin constructing a plan of attack. What they found out was that Grizz had already beefed up security, meaning that he was clearly expecting someone to be coming at him, but thanks to the blueprints that the ancient owl had collected they could find the egg vats and disable them, permanently. Bob's task was to climb the main power generator and pull off some pressure lids to destabilize the entire thing, even though they had to tell the ancestor that they would explain everything to him later, while Murray would be taking care of enemies near the main controls, so someone didn't reset the system. Once all of that was done, however, the gang would group together and hunt down Grizz, especially since some of them would be going in pairs while Bob would be tackling his portion alone, though to make sure the kids didn't get any funny ideas Diz was going to stay back with them and use his powers to show them what was going on, keeping them occupied so Carmelita could join Sly and the others in the field.

The gang approached the area that Grizz had gone through earlier, back when Clockwerk was flying through the area and observing what their foe was doing, and sure enough the code that he provided them opened the gate in front of them, allowing them to jump onto the pair of conveyor belt system and ride the containers into the area that they were going to take out before dealing with the bear that was their main target.

Bentley and Derpy were the first ones to get off and head to the area that they needed to take out, where Derpy mostly provided cover for her friend by taking out the enemies that were in front of them while at the same time Bentley used his bombs to clear the path that they needed to take. While Bentley had to jump over some of the fallen stones and ride some of the egg containers to get around Derpy found that she was more than able to use her wings and fly around, allowing her to get ahead of him and clear out some of the guards that there in their way, collecting their coins and knocking them out. When they reached the first egg vat, which was pretty close to their location, Bentley used his darts to blow up the sections of it that were necessary for the device to run, eventually causing the top of it to fall over as the entire machine stopped working, allowing the two of them to move forward as they searched for the next egg vat. What Derpy found to be interesting was that once the first egg vat was destroyed a bridge rose up in front of them, which is what allowed them to move forward, but she also kept her guard up, especially when Bentley had to stop for a moment to hack into one of Le Paradox's computers so both of them could continue forward.

It didn't take him long to hack into the computer, which activated the hammers that were in front of them and allowed them to move forward, to which Bentley navigated over the prehistoric mining equipment as Derpy flew near him, keeping her eyes on the areas ahead of them for other foes... and at the end of the hammers was the second egg vat, which Bentley took down with the same ease that allowed him to take out the first one, allowing them to move forward while Bob started his climb on the tower. Based on the grunts that came after they took out the second egg vat, and what Derpy could see from their position before they moved, it appeared that Bob was having no problems in finding out where the valves were located and could easily rip them off of where they were supposed to rest. Unfortunately Murray, pulled Bob into the container he was riding in, ended up falling into another one and headed to another part of the facility, but Bentley, always the thinker, already had a back up plan as Sly and Carmelita climbed out of their container and faced the path that was in front of them.

"You ready for this, Carmelita?" Sly asked, as he wanted to be sure that his wife was ready to resume her duties, even though their kids were safe at the moment, and he had to smile when Carmelita looked at him for a moment, as the look in her eyes was all he needed to see.

"Oh course. Now, let's get to those controls, and then we can focus on finding Grizz." Carmelita replied, because while she wasn't linked to the Coopers like Sly was, since they were his ancestors and not hers, she still considered them her family now and she hated it when people messed with her family, especially Le Paradox.

Sly slipped into his sabertooth tiger costume and laid on the floor for a moment, allowing Carmelita to grab onto his back as tightly as she could, before he launched himself at the target that was across the gap in front of them, before doing it again so he could crash into a guard and knock him out. From there he let Carmelita climb off and pull the lever that was near them, causing the machinery in front of them to move and opened the way forward, even though that meant that they had to use the hooks that were attached to the machine so they could reach another platform on the other side of the area that they were in. Once they reached the platform the duo discovered that they needed to use their paragliders to navigate the area in front of them, as they needed to use the heat that was emitting from the area below them, and in a matter of minutes they had reached the controls that Bentley needed them to take out, to which they took out the guard that was in front of them. When they claimed the terminal, and found that there weren't any additional enemies like they expected, Bentley and the remainder of the gang rode up to where they were standing and Bentley worked his magic on the terminal, before opening the door and allowed them to move forward.

A few moments later, however, they came to an ice wall that prevented them from entering the area that Grizz was standing in, which also happened to be where Murray ended up, but that was followed by the gang standing there as they waited for Murray to take out Grizz, as they all believed in him, and even if they didn't have faith in Murray's abilities Diz could just use his magic to open a door in the ice wall, so they could jump in whenever they wanted.

Grizz had a brief speech about how they were harassing him and how he wanted to be free, so he could skate in peace, and while none of them were sure what was going on in his head, however, he pulled his medallion off of his necklace and snapped it in half, revealing that it was actually his skates, hidden from sight. From that point Murray focused on his foe, who was skating around the area that they were in, though he had to avoid the wind that was let out when the bear did a spin maneuver and had to move out of the way when Grizz charged at him, as he was sure that it would have frozen him for a few seconds. After some time Grizz lowered what appeared to be a circular wall of stones with his signature on them, three of which were slightly held up with ice blocks that actually looked like they were the ticket to hurting Grizz until he reached the point that Murray could punch him. From that point Murray found out, after taking out the walls, was that he had to follow after Grizz in the form of ice skating, to which he mimicked the same tactics that his foe used and continued to keep up with him, which just seemed to be annoying his opponent to no end... and when he caught up with him he slammed Grizz into the snow and beat him up a little, before the bear roared and repeated the process they had just gone through, only with some slight changes.

In the end Murray smashed Grizz into the side of the ice wall that his friends were standing behind and shattered the wall, knocking out the bear in the process as he came to a stop and flexed his muscles, as it had been an interesting battle and he had shown his foe that it wasn't wise to mess with 'The Murray'.

With Diz's help they carted Grizz back to the area outside their safe house, finding that Bob's cane had been taken away from this time period as well, and contacted Secretary Sen, giving him an update on their situation and that they had another criminal from their own time period that needed to face the music. Despite the ongoing situation, where Le Paradox was messing with the time stream, Sen told them that they were doing fine work and eagerly awaited their return to the future, something that the gang was more than happy to do, especially since Carmelita wanted to drop off Elizabeth and Daniel with one of the few people that criminals even feared to go near. When they returned to the future, and handed Grizz over to the authorities, Secretary Sen informed them that another time period was being affected by these recent events, Medieval England to be exact, the place of Sir Galleth Cooper, and, in a strange twist of fate, Grizz's crown was the perfect object to get them back to that period. Unfortunately there was some bad news, they still had no idea where or when Carmelita's parents had been taken to, which upset Carmelita a little bit, but after seeing that her kids were in Toothpick's time period she knew that her parents had to be with whoever was attacking Galleth's time... or her parents were the unwilling prisoners of Le Paradox, which wasn't something she wanted to really think about.

Once they were sure that everything in the future was taken care of, and that Grizz would suffer a fitting punishment for his scams, Bentley slipped the crown into the time machine and the gang, minus Elizabeth and Daniel, headed off to Medieval England, so they could save it, help Galleth, and stop whoever was attacking the time period... and maybe get one step closer to stopping Le Paradox's schemes, before they became reality.

Comments

[Ze1a7in]

ooh boy. Time for a black knight.