Gilda and Derpy grow up with Sly, Bentley, and Murray as their brothers, where they work towards restoring the Cooper Legacy to its former glory by bringing the Fiendish Five to justice... and run from the law at the same time.
After losing both his mother and his father, due to a group of villains attacking his home, a young Sly Cooper is sent to a nearby orphanage with his family's cane in hand. There he finds Murray, Bentley, Gilda, and Derpy Hooves, the four people that he would eventually come to call family one day. Together they practice their individual talents and pull off some successful heists, all while searching for clues as to the whereabouts of the Fiendish Five, the people that took out Sly's parents... as well as recover the pages of the Thievius Raccoonus.
All of them must deal with the tests and challenges that come with being in a gang of thieves, especially when some tests will push them to their breaking points.
(Sly Cooper/ MLP crossover) (Part of the Universe 13 story series, though reading the other stories is not required)
Paris was a large city and anyone not familiar with it could become lost rather easily, but that wasn't true for people such as Sly Cooper, his gang, and his sisters, as they had a talent for finding their way around a city and locating exactly what they were searching for. Sly was a male raccoon with gray fur and brown eyes, with his tail having the signature black rings on it, though he usually wore the same colored shoes, jacket, gloves, and hat, as they were all dark blue, but to complete his look he had the raccoon mask around his eyes and carried his family's cane with him. In addition to all of that he also wore a small red backpack, a common one so he couldn't be identified easily in a public setting, that he usually stuffed his stolen goods into before leaving his calling card... the same that his family used all the time.
Sly came from a long line of master thieves, the legendary Cooper Clan, who had thieves stretching back all the way to Ancient Egypt, or at least that was what he remembered from the large number of times he was allowed to read the Thievius Raccoonus, the ancient tome that was passed down throughout his family line. Ten years ago, when he was only eight years old, he was supposed to have inherited the book from his father, but then five strangers arrived unannounced at their door. His father hid him inside a closest while he went to investigate what had happened, only for Sly to see the shadowy outline of his father being attacked by someone and, ultimately, falling to the ground in defeat, before the strangers ransacked the house and found the tome... which they separated among themselves before disappearing to different parts of the world to commit crimes with the knowledge they had just stolen.
All Sly could remember from that night, including the attack, was that someone found him sometime later and dropped him off at the Happy Camper Orphanage, where he met the people that would not only become his friends, but also his family as well. The two guys that he met went on to become his most trusted friends and part of the new Cooper Gang; Bentley, techno-genius and strategist supreme, and Murray, part-time driver and full-time burden, though that second part was something that Murray was trying to get rid of. The two girls he met, who became his sisters, were Gilda and Derpy Hooves, or, as they were more commonly known as these days, Gilda Cooper and Derpy Cooper... though the reality was that neither of them were raccoons like Sly was.
Gilda was a griffin, meaning a mix between a lion and an eagle, and she had white feathers on her head that were supposed to be her hair, while at the same time she had a beak that was actually her mouth, her fingers had the shape of an eagle's talons, and she had a pair of wings, eagle wings to be exact, that grew out of her back. Those were the parts of her that belonged to the eagle side of her DNA, though for her lion side she had lion paws for feet, along with the leg structure to match, and had a lion's tail where Sly had a raccoon's tail. What Sly though was funny was that many people, those that had met Gilda, said she was intimidating because of how she looked, while others said it was because of her amber colored eyes... though he, personally, wasn't too intimidated by his sister.
Derpy, on the other hand, had bluish gray colored fur, her hair was light grayish apple green colored, which her tail had as well, and her eyes happened to have the same coloration as her hair, though what sent her apart from everyone else was the fact that she had crossed eyes. Derpy's left eye was almost always looking ahead of her while the right one was either looking at the ceiling or the floor, but never the same thing as her left eye, which had caused some of the other children to tease her while they were in the orphanage. She, like Gilda, was a different species, as while Sly was a raccoon and Gildra was a griffin, Derpy was a pegasus, though instead of walking on four legs like her species' namesake, the one that a hero rode into battle, she walked on two legs like everyone else... though her legs ended in hooves, while she had a pair of wings that grew out of her back, and had pony ears and a pony tail.
Sly sighed for a moment as he briefly recalled meeting the two of them in the orphanage, as that had been the start of something great for all of them, before they met Bentley and Murray... which eventually gave way for the new Cooper Gang, and his new family, to form.
"Here you go," a voice said, to which he glanced to his side for a moment and found Gilda, dressed up in tourist clothing, standing near him with a baked good from one of the nearby bakeries, though he had to resist the urge to chuckle when he stared at the muffin that he ended up taking as Gilda sat beside him, "So, did you find the building?"
"Yeah, it was easier to find than I thought it would be." Sly commented, though at the same time he lowered his voice so that only Gilda could hear him, because he didn't want anyone else to hear what they were talking about, before noticing who was missing, "Say, where's Derpy?"
"Believe it or not, she's inside Police Headquarters at the moment," Gilda replied, though as she spoke she lifted the muffin she was holding up to her face and took a bite out of it, where she smiled for a few seconds after she swallowed the bit she had taken off, "Oh, now that's a good muffin... Derpy is really going to enjoy these."
"WHAT?!" Sly nearly shouted, though he caught himself before he shouted the word out and composed himself, since he and Gilda, along with Derpy for that matter, were supposed to be acting like tourists at the moment, "Why is she inside the Police Headquarters?"
"Getting information!" another voice said, to which Derpy, also dressed up in the same tourist clothing that both Sly and Gilda were wearing at the moment, landed near them and took a seat to Sly's left, though as she took a muffin from Gilda she dropped something into Sly's lap and ignored it, "Yummy muffin!"
Sly glanced down at the small packet of papers that Derpy had 'accidentally' dropped into his lap, though he carefully looked around the area and found that no one was staring at them, to which he picked the packet up and nearly let a big smile appear on his face. This was a notice to all of the officers inside the Police Headquarters detailing the days that the building would be completely empty for the night and the hours of when each officer would be available, but what caught his attention was that in two days the building would be vacant without anyone working that night. The only concerning aspect about it was that there wasn't anything special going on that day, but he decided to shelve that thought as he decided to get the information to Bentley.
Derpy, after acting like a lost innocent searching for the park they were sitting in, swiped the schedule for all of the employees that worked inside Police Headquarters... and, in the process, just got them one massive step closer to completing their mission.
Two days later, or more like three since it was four twenty in the morning, Sly carefully moved across the rooftops of Paris as he made his way towards the Police Headquarters, all while mentally sighing as he realized that, in his eagerness to get this operation over with, he had forgotten about the custodians that worked inside the building. As a result he nearly missed his window to get inside the building before someone showed up for work, but since Derpy and Gilda were near the building, and could fly away at a moment's notice, they opted to recon the building until the custodians had left. Sure, he could have gotten one of them to come and give him a lift to the building, but he didn't want to do that since none of his ancestors had wings like his sisters did... and it made good practice for him, if he did this all the time, to which he mentally chuckled as he remembered that Gilda and Derpy did this from time to time as well.
Still, it didn't take him long to reach the part of the Police Headquarters he had been aiming for the entire time, one of the light poles that rested near a water container, though as he landed on it both Gilda and Derpy, now dressed in their thief attire that matched his own, and came complete with their own Cooper canes, landed nearby... only for them to falter for a moment as a loud screech erupted from all three of their binocucoms, which they all pulled from their pouches and held up in front of their faces.
"Sly! Gilda! Derpy! Come in!" Bentley exclaimed, sounding desperate to reach them at this point in time, though they knew that he was still making sure that their communications couldn't be intercepted by the police or anyone else, "Do you read me?"
"Yeah. We read you." Sly replied, though at the same time he shook his head for a moment, which his sisters did as well, before he focused on the binocucom and Bentley, "Loud and... very loud."
"Sorry, I'm a little nervous." Bentley stated, though at the same time the image in all three of their binocucoms rubbed the back of his head for a moment, showing they exactly what Bentley was doing in his chair at that moment, "Trying to break into Police Headquarters does that."
"Bentley, not to sound rude or anything, but can you please get over it?" Gilda commented, to which she sighed for a moment, because despite the fact that Bentley was a genius he still got frightened easily, even if he wasn't in the field like she, Sly, and Derpy were, "You're safe in the van. We're the thieves here... We've got to steal that file from Inspector Carmelita Fox's office, before she gets back."
"Well, the three of you can count on me to be your eyes and ears." Bentley said, where Gilda noticed that he sounded more confident, though that was only because he was in his element and was letting them do their thing, "I've got their security system totally scoped. To get inside, you're gonna have to go through that air vent."
Sly, Gilda, and Derpy found their binocucums zooming in on the large air vent that was on the other side of the roof, the one that appeared large enough for all three of them to walk through, before the three of them smiled, as it appeared that things would go their way this time around.
"Alright, we're going in." Derpy stated, echoing what was going through both Sly and Gilda's heads at the moment, though before they moved there was a switch in who they were talking to.
"And don't forget you've got me at the wheel, Sly." Murray spoke up, though for the most part he usually spoke to Sly first before remembering that Gilda and Derpy were there, which was followed by him correcting himself, "All the three of you gotta do is grab the file and get back to the van. We'll do the rest."
"Just keep that engine running, Murray." Sly said, to which his sisters put their binocucoms back in their pouches, as they both knew what was coming next, "We'll be down in no time."
Sly remained standing on the light pole he had landed on for a few seconds, using this as a small test of recollection for both Gilda and Derpy, as he had taught them everything he could remember from what his father taught him before the night he was supposed to inherit the family tome. His family, which was made up of master thieves, could tell when there were opportunities to sneak around, something that Bentley called 'thieving opportunities', and he was seeing if they could remember what he taught them. Sure enough Derpy found a path around the water tower's exterior that allowed her to jump on some antennas to get at the vent, to which he and Gilda smiled and followed after her, while at the same time he knew that Gilda had let Derpy impress him first.
Sly knew that Derpy learned things slightly slower than her sister did, but she was still smart and often used her appearance as a disabled person to fool people they were trying to steal from... though he quickly shelved the thought as they entered the air vent and discovered a series of alarm beams waiting for them, with the alarm horn resting at the bottom of the elevator shaft.
Gilda looked at the alarm beams and tucked her wings in close to her back, where she jumped to the right and landed on a small platform that happened to be attached to the wall, before finding one on the opposite side of the shaft they were in and jumped towards that one. Sly and Derpy followed after her, as Sly made his way towards the first one his sister landed on, which prompted her to move onto the third platform that was further below the one he was standing on and made him jump towards the second one. That, in turn, allowed Derpy to jump to the first one as Gilda reached the bottom of the elevator shaft, where she watched her siblings descend down to where she was standing and landed around her, to which she grinned as she broke the alarm horn and unlocked the door to the main hallway.
From there the three of them quietly made their way through the hallway, where Sly once again marveled at how his sisters had adapted to using his family's techniques, as he could barely hear the sound of them touching the floor, before they came to the door that would allow them to enter Carmelita's office. The problem was that it was locked, but for Sly and his sisters they knew there there was always a second way into every location, which happened to involve walking through the open window on their right and carefully sneaking their way across the exterior of the building. At the end of it was another open window that allowed them to enter Carmelita's office, where the siblings noticed that there was a fair amount of pictures and notes about their heists that happened to be attached to a map... which made since considering that Sly had helped Carmelita bust another thief some time ago, helping her out and giving her a 'relationship' with Sly.
Of course by relationship they meant that Carmelita was constantly hunting their gang, generally showing up late every time they stole something from their targets, though Sly chuckled as he approached the large vault near the corner of the room and knelt before it as Bentley told him the combination. A few seconds later the vault door opened and found the file they were here for, detailing everything about Sly and the attack on his family ten years ago, to which Sly grinned as he carefully pocketed the document and left their calling card.
As the siblings exited Carmelita's office, however, they all heard the sound of a shock pistol being primed as the Inspector jumped out from where she was hiding and landed on the top of a sign. Inspector Carmelita Fox happened to be wearing some tight fitting blue jeans, with a blue shoulderless top that was combined with an open jacket for equal parts warmth and freedom of movement. She also had long blue hair that moved in the morning breeze, same with Derpy's hair, though Carmelita had orange fur, as was common among foxes in this world, though Sly knew it was Carmelita because of the intensity in her brown eyes.
Sure enough Carmelita had her pistol pointed at the fire escape that Sly and his sisters were standing on, though he knew that she was actually aiming at the three of them and suspected that his sisters knew what the Inspector was aiming at as well.
"Criminals!" Carmelita declared, though at the same time a small smile appeared on her face for a few seconds, which disappeared a few seconds later as she focused on the trio in front of her, "You foolish raccoon! I've caught you, and your sisters, red-handed!"
"Ahh... Carmelita." Sly said, to which he smiled when he noticed her standing up there and changed his tone to a more friendly one, as he was sure that there might be something between them and was constantly seeing if he could bring that to life in her, "I haven't seen you since my sisters and I gave you the slip in Bombay."
"Which reminds me, you need to return the Fire Stone of India to its rightful owners." Carmelita stated, referring to the stone the trio had stolen earlier, something that they weren't planning on returning, despite the fact that Sly was already planning on mentioning it during their conversation.
"Aw, and I was going to give it to you as a little token of my..." Sly stated to say, though he played it off by noticing Carmelita's weapon, something that his sisters had been staring at since Carmelita appeared, "hey, you know that bazooka really brings out the color of your eyes. Very fetching!"
"You think?" Carmelita asked, though she barely moved as she stared down at the trio, indicating that this time around Sly wouldn't be able to talk his way out of this situation, "This pistol packs a paralyzing punch. You and your sisters ought to try it. Might snap the three of you out of your crime spree."
"And give up our little rendezvous?" Sly countered, though he knew that a suggestion like that meant that this conversation was going south and that they had better get out of here, where he noticed that Derpy and Gilda were ready for his signal.
"Plenty of time for that once the three of you are safely behind bars." Carmelita calmly stated, to which she flipped a small switch and turned the safety off, as she knew that the three Coopers were getting ready to move out of the area and she wanted to be ready to catch them.
"I'd love to stick around and chat, but we just dropped by to pick up this case file." Sly replied, though at the same time he prepared himself for the first shot to be fired, as he knew that Carmelita would be aiming for him first in order to make his sisters surrender to her, "I think you've had it long enough."
Carmelita pressed the trigger and loosed a blast at the fire escape, shaking the entire thing in the process, to which both Gilda and Derpy opened their wings and took flight, where Carmelita surprised Sly by firing at his sisters, who were better at maneuvering in the air than she was. Sly smiled as he made his way to the bottom of the fire escape and raced across the terribly arranged parking lot, indicating that Carmelita had done this to trap them on purpose, but Bentley had prepared for such an event as Murray backed up to the exit of the parking lot. As Carmelita realized what was going on, and turned to fire at him, Sly jumped into the van and Murray got them moving, though as they started moving Gilda and Derpy changed their course and flew into the back of the van... though Gilda let Derpy do it first before doing the same thing.
Within the next few minutes they were racing down the streets of Paris and Sly glanced into the mirror to his right, just in time to see Carmelita disappear into the distance behind them, before pulling out the file they had stolen and smiling... because now it was time for them to find the Fiendish Five, defeat all of them, and recover the pieces of his family's most sacred artifact. He only hoped that all three of them were ready to tackle the Fiendish Five, otherwise his family name was going to bite the dust after so many years of enduring hardships and other rival thieves... and he hoped that he, Gilda, and Derpy could make all of his ancestors proud by the end of this.
No one talked for the first few minutes as Murray drove the van away from Police Headquarters, as they were all reflecting over what they had just had and how well their plan had worked, save for Carmelita's arrival near the end, before they started talking. While Murray drove the van, Bentley tinkered on his computer, and both Gilda and Derpy stared at the scenery that was passing them, Sly spent a few moments staring down at the case file they had stolen, the very one that he had been waiting to get his hands on. Part of him wondered if he was dreaming, where in reality he and his sisters hadn't gone after the case file yet, but after a few moments he determined that he wasn't dreaming, because if he had been dreaming he was sure that he would have awoken the moment he and his sisters got away from Carmelita.
"Sly, that was a nice heist that you, Gilda, and Derpy pulled off at Police Headquarters," Bentley commented, snapping Sly back to reality, because he knew that his friend was likely lost in his head over the fact that they finally got the case file he had been searching for.
"Yeah, and it was nice to see Carmelita again," Sly said, knowing that his friends and his sisters knew about his feelings for the Inspector, though then again he really never tried to hide those feelings, "especially when she was the one who had the case file we needed."
"Speaking of Carmelita, we had better get moving," Gilda added, knowing that sooner or later the Inspector will have gained permission to chase after them, meaning that it was a matter of time until she found the evidence to arrest the members of the Fiendish Five, which would make it harder for them to gather the pages of the Thievius Raccoonus, "She's likely preparing to chase us to whoever the first member of the Fiendish Five is, so we had better get there before she does, otherwise she might find some of the pages herself."
"Right." Sly said, knowing that Gilda was right, to which he opened the case file and skipped past the part that was about the attack on his family home, as he knew all about that part already, before coming to the first target that he and his sisters would be taking out, "Let's see here, our first target is Sir Raleigh the frog. According to this he was born into a life of wealth and privilege, but he eventually grew bored of his life and turned to piracy, which he found to his liking after attempting it with one of his boats. He also has a fascination with building machines, which is why he was recruited into the Fiendish Five as the chief machinist, though the last known sightings of Raleigh suggest that he's got a stronghold on the Isle of Wrath, which is situated in the middle of the perilous Welsh Triangle."
"I see," Bentley commented, though he could see that all three of the Cooper siblings were annoyed by Raleigh's actions, both from taking some pages from the Thievius Raccoonus and what he had done when he turned his life towards crime, "Well then, I'll set our course for the Isle of Wrath... and made sure that it's the fastest one so we can beat Inspector Fox there."
"Awesome!" Murray said, though that was when he shifted the van into a different gear, allowing them to go faster while Bentley started forming the route they needed to take to reach their destination, "Next stop, the Isle of Wrath."
Gilda, Derpy, and Sly smiled at each other for a moment, because this would be the first step towards them recovering the Cooper Clan's most valuable treasure, while at the same time taking out one of the villains that had taken out Sly's father ten years ago. They had been training themselves, to the best of their abilities, for this day to arrive, though now that they had the information they were after it was time to act upon their plan and take out the Fiendish Five... starting with heading to the Welsh Triangle and see what Raleigh was up to.
It took them some time to reach the Isle of Wrath, though when they finally reached it Murray spun the van around so that the back would be facing the path that would head right to Raleigh's hideout, though when he came to a stop the back door opened. That was when Sly, Derpy, and Gilda climbed out of the van and jumped onto the ground in front of them, where they noticed that it was definitely raining all around them, while at the same time spotting a wrecked ship not too far away from the path that Murray used to get the van here. Bentley quickly wished them well before he closed the back door of the van, to prevent the inside from getting drenched, though at the same time the trio walked forward and began their operation, which started with them passing through a small tunnel in the rock wall ahead of them.
When they arrived at the back end of the tunnel a few seconds later, however, the three of them stopped as they took in their surroundings for a moment, finding a deck fragment of a ship to their left while the path they needed to take was locked at the moment... and it was unlikely that they could find the key to unlock it anytime soon.
"It seems that Raleigh knows his locks as well as we do," Sly commented, identifying the type of lock almost instantly, though as he did so he started looking for alternate paths they could take to reach the other side, "I know you two know this already, but please bare with me for a moment; that type of lock is hooked to an alarm that will sound if we try to put anything that's the wrong shape or size, like a lockpick, into it."
"That means we're going over the gate," Gilda said, understanding why Sly was reminding her and Derpy of this information, since they were slightly less experienced than he was in this sort of thing, before she noticed something interesting to the immediate left of the gate, "Hey, do you think we could use that ladder, and the tower it's attached to, to get over the gate?"
"It sure looks like it." Sly replied, though that was when Derpy emerged from the area they were hiding in and headed over to the deck fragment that they had noticed, which was currently being guarded by a walrus guard that was wielding a mallet as he hit the deck with it... while collecting two bottles in the process.
Derpy carefully approached the guard, using the stealth techniques that Sly had taught her and Gilda over the years, before she whacked the guard with her cane, hard enough to knock him out completely while also being light enough to avoid leaving behind any bruises. They were supposed to be thieves, so leaving a mark on someone was generally a bad idea for them, though as she did that, and made sure that the guard was out cold, she looked up at the mast she was standing under and found another pair of green bottles, with what appeared to be a sheet of paper in each of them, resting above her head. Instead of hitting the mast, and potentially causing it to fall on the guard's head, she opened her wings and flew up to where the bottles were resting, where she grabbed them and brought them to the ground... where she smashed all four of the bottles inside the tunnel and took pictures of what she found for Bentley to look at.
"Now this is very interesting." Bentley told all three of them, causing the trio to listen carefully, as this might help them uncover some of the pages of the Cooper Clan's tome, "The messages you just sent me appear to be some sort of clue! I'll decipher them here in the van. In the meantime, the three of you should see if you can find any more clues. The more I have the easier it'll be to crack the code."
Fortunately it appeared that there was one more clue in front of the ladder that they were planning on using to get over the gate and another four to the right of the actual gate, though the set of four included climbing on a rope to reach them since two were resting on a pillar of stone and the other two were on top of two young trees. From there the trio took turns climbing up the ladder that was in front of them and carefully jumped down into the area below them, where they stopped when Sly spotted a searchlight shining on the path in front of them. That meant they had to be careful, as stepping into the light would set off the alarm that was being guarded by another guard, though since the guard was facing their direction they were going to be spotted the moment they emerged from where they were hiding.
Gilda, however, used her wings to moved herself into the air before she headed over to where the van was located, to which Sly and Derpy watched as she eventually landed behind the guard, who had a large throwing star of some kind as his weapon, and knocked him out as well, before turning off the alarm system so her siblings could follow her. As Sly and Derpy headed to where Gilda was standing they collected another pair of clue bottles, their name for the strange bottles, before they all headed though what would have been a gate if they tripped the alarm. Once they were on the other side, however, all three of them stared at the large boat that was Raleigh's base of operations... as well as the large blimp like machine that was hovering in the air above the boat, which appeared to be producing the storm itself.
"So, who wants to bet that the blimp is where Raleigh is hiding?" Sly asked, because that was the first thought that came to mind when he stared at the machine, though he was sure that his sisters were thinking something completely different than he was.
"Well, according to my Amphibio-Positioning System," Bentley said, his tone indicating that he must have spotted the machine when they arrived and he had been studying it the entire time, though Sly was happy to hear that tone, "that big blimp is exactly where Raleigh is hiding out."
"I'm just going to say this, but that blimp looks more like a machine than a hide-out." Gilda commented, as the entire blimp seemed to be made out of nothing more than metal and glass, at least from where they were standing anyway, which meant that it had to be a machine of some kind.
"You're right, Gilda." Bentley replied, though for a few seconds he went silent as he pulled up whatever his findings where, but the siblings took the moment to study what they could see of the boat before they moved on, "That is a storm machine! It's the reason why it never stops raining around here."
"That explains all the wrecked ships." Sly stated, looking at all of the wrecked ships that rested all over the area between them and the boat, which made sense considering that Raleigh must have been at this for a long time before they arrived to take him out.
"But why would Raleigh want bad weather at his own hide-out all the time?" Bentley asked, as he knew that none of his friends could answer the question, not unless they asked Raleigh that same thing when they finally reached him, and even then their foe might not give them an answer.
"Well, it seems to be both making the storm that's alive at the moment and is being suspended in the air by that very same storm," Derpy said, as she had been staring that the storm the entire time, though that was when she glanced down at the wrecked ships for a moment, "and he's likely keeping the storm alive to sink ships that he can salvage whenever he wants to recover their treasure."
"You might be right Derpy," Bentley replied, though this time his tone suggested that he wasn't used to saying that she might be right about something, but no one really paid any attention to that, "Well, he's likely got his portion of the Thievius Raccoonus with him, so you'll need to get aboard the storm machine to get at it."
Sly nodded and beckoned for his sisters to follow after him, where the three of them silently headed up the hill that was in front of them and found a guard, this time with a welder in his hand, blocking the way, though they were more than enough to take the guard down and progress onward, after gently turning his welder off anyway. As they turned to their left they noticed that there was a low powered waterfall that they had to cross, where Derpy found two more clue bottles off to their right and collected them as they moved through the water. As they crossed the second part of the waterfall they all noticed another pair of bottles resting on some rocks, which they collected so Bentley could decipher them and possibly crack the code, before the trio reached a gate that they couldn't open with what they had at the moment. It was at that point that Bentley contacted them and informed them that they were making good progress, before reminding them of the fact that they could jump towards a circular hook and latch onto it with their canes, allowing them to swing over the gate... and any other obstacles that they might encounter in the future.
Sly was the first to react after lowering his binocucom, as he ran towards the gate and jumped into the air, letting the top of his cane latch onto the hook and swung for a few seconds, before he let go of the hook and jumped over the top of the gate. The instant he landed on the ground he turned around and looked at his sisters, where Gilda stepped forward first and repeated what he had done before Derpy had done the same thing, though once they were together again the three of them continued down the path in front of them. They carefully jumped across the four rotating wheels that were at the end of the path and stopped at the small patch of land that had a mallet guard working on something, though they quickly took him down before crossing over the second set of four rotating wheels that were in their way, as well as carefully waiting for an opening to reveal itself since these ones had circular rings that prevented them from moving forward too quickly.
As they walked into the new area they discovered a throwing star guard standing near the end of the larger patch of land that the three of them had found, which had two searchlights looking for intruders, but as they started moving this guard immediately noticed them and started throwing stars at them. Fortunately he couldn't target a flying target that well, as Derpy followed what her sister had done earlier and flew behind the guard, where she made sure to knock him out before Gilda and Sly caught up with her. Sly smiled as he deactivated the alarm that the guard had been protecting and knocked out the searchlights at the same time, though their situation improved when they spotted a large vault, like the one in Carmelita's office, but since they didn't have all the clues in the area they couldn't exactly open it. Sly was surprised when Derpy opened her wings and took to the skies, where she moved up to the tops of the two searchlights and found two pairs of clue bottles resting on the top of both towers. Gilda smiled as she opened her wings as well and headed to the second tower and collected the bottles that were up there, to which she and Derpy smashed the bottles and sent Bentley a copy of everything they found... along with one more, as it had been resting next to the vault, giving them a grand total of twenty clue bottles in this one area.
The trio waited for a moment, to see what Bentley said about the fact that they had found twenty clue bottles in this one area, before he contacted them and asked that they find the vault, where he discovered that they were already standing in front of the vault. Once he understood that the trio was standing in front of the vault he gave Sly the combination, 7-9-2, and let Sly open it, to which Sly carefully moved the tumblers into the correct positions and moved the lever. A few seconds later the vault door opened and the trio discovered a piece of paper resting inside it, which was actually a page from the Thievius Raccoonus, one that detailed the specifics of Drake Cooper's Fast Attack Dive move, which the trio committed to memory before Sly carefully placed it inside the ancient bindings of the family tome, which he carried with him at all times. While he did that Gilda pulled out the gang's calling card, the infamous blue raccoon mask, and placed it where the page had been located, to which the trio moved forward and crossed over the trio of rotating wheels... where they came to a stop once more as they spotted a interesting looking case that contained a decent sized key, one that had to go to the gate in front of them.
"This seems too easy," Gilda commented, to which she glanced from the key to the gate and back, as she knew that there had to be some sort of trick associated with the fact that the first key they discovered, the first Treasure Key as it were, while at the same time Sly studied the key without touching the case while Derpy stared at the gate.
"The key's genuine," Sly said, though he was at a loss for words as well, because based on what he was seeing there should be a trap or something, yet all he found was nothing save for the key and the case, "and there aren't any traps on the case. Derpy, do you see anything on the gate?"
"Save for the lock that the key goes to? Not really," Derpy replied, to which she turned back and stared at her siblings, as she had seen nothing that would be triggered if the key was inserted into the lock and already shared the unease that both Gilda and Sly were feeling, "If we put that key into the lock we won't have to worry about traps or alarms... which is by far the stupidest way Raleigh could have protected the entrance of his hide-out."
"I don't mind it if Raleigh makes this easy for us," Sly stated, though at the same time he removed the case and claimed the key, to which he and his sisters approached the gate that was in front of them, something that he unlocked and revealed the way into the hide-out.
The trio entered the tunnel that was in front of them and carefully made their way through it, since they had no idea if there were any traps inside the passage, but fortunately for the three of them they were able to make their way through the tunnel without anything happening to them... before they stopped at a small cliff that gave them a good view of the boat that served as Raleigh's base of operations, along with a better view of the blimp itself.
"That blimp looks like the most secured location on this boat." Sly commented, looking at the blimp in question with his binocucom, which Gilda and Derpy were doing as well, though they were also taking note of everything else the boat had to offer, "If Raleigh's really as smart as his police file suggests then that's where we'll find him."
"Wonderful idea, but your plan is flawed." Bentley told him, cutting him off before he even had the chance to mention what his plan had been, which caused the siblings to raise an eyebrow as they waited for him to explain himself.
"Okay, then explain why my 'plan' is flawed," Sly replied, because he had been thinking about having Gilda and Derpy carry him up to the blimp so they could take out Raleigh first, which was flawed since the storm might produce more than rain and would make them targets because of their canes.
"Because it's impossible get near him." Bentley informed them, to which he shifted their gaze towards a power tube that had bits of electricity lashing to and from throughout the tube, one that also happened to have a generator resting next to it, which was protected by a circular gate, "To access Raleigh's blimp, the three of you would have to sneak through that high-voltage power tube. To do that, without getting electrocuted, you'd have to destroy that power generator. And to do that, you need to find two more of Raleigh's treasure keys, which are heavily guarded."
"Interesting." Gilda said, though she was smiling as she listened to what Bentley was telling them, as this sounded like a good place for them all to practice their skills and tackle the objectives on their own, something that she felt they were all ready for, "So when are you going to get to the impossible part?"
"Fine! But I warned you!" Bentley replied, indicating that he had given them all the information he could at the moment, before he shifted their gazes towards one of the few doors that were open at the moment, which now had some glowing markers resting in front of them, "I've marked the areas you need to hit with holographic markers, which all three of your masks have been calibrated to see whenever I project something. Follow them to your objectives."
"Thanks Bentley!" Derpy said, knowing that it would have taken her, Gilda, and Sly some time to figure out their objectives on their own, but with Bentley showing them the way they could tackle anything that Raleigh and the other members of the Fiendish Five threw at them, "We owe you one."
"Don't mention it." Bentley stated, though that was followed by the connection being terminated, allowing the trio to lower their binocucoms and prepare themselves for the next part of the operation.
They had four targets to choose from, if they were seeing Bentley's markers correctly, which meant they had four potential Treasure Keys to acquire and four potential pages of the Thievius Raccoonus to reclaim, before any of them even considered heading through the power tube and seeing what rested on the other side of it. All three of them knew that this was going to be dangerous for all of them, since they were going up against one of the Fiendish Five and the guards that he commanded, but they had all sworn to make them pay for what they did to Sly's father... and not one of them was going to back down now. Together the three siblings looked at the blimp and knew that they would face Raleigh in time, they only had to take back what was their's and take his Treasure Keys, and then they could deal with him at last.
Sly, Gilda, and Derpy took turns latching onto the hook that was in front of them and rode it down to the small platform that had been built on top of a small rock formation, though once they were together they crossed over the floating barrels and bits of metal that were between them and the main ship. Directly across from the small platform rested a small boat, a rowboat to be exact, that was simply resting in the water and had a rope hanging above it, one that would allow the siblings to climb up onto the main deck of Raleigh's base of operations. Sly was the first to race across the floating pathway and started climbing the rope the instant he reached the rowboat, though as he reached the rowboat Gilda followed after him and jumped across the pathway as well, despite the fact that she could have flown to the deck of the main ship. As Sly reached the second rope, that would get him to the deck, and Gilda reached the top of the first rope Derpy followed after them and crossed over to the rowboat.
In a few minutes the three of them were standing on the main deck of the boat, to which they discovered that there were small trees scattered everywhere, in addition to more of the thorns they had encountered earlier when they made their way through the first part of Raleigh's hideout, and a fountain that had actual running water... though before any of them could move they heard an intercom start up, indicating that Raleigh was going to speak to his crew.
I say chaps, my heartiest congratulations to you all! The storm machine has sunk its fiftieth ship last night and the loot has already been unloaded. Raleigh said, to which the siblings looked at each other for a moment, as they had no idea that the storm machine had sunk that many ships, but they paid attention to the announcement before they started their recovery operation, Our operation is moving along splendidly, with the possible exception being the gross negligence displayed below decks! I demand the boilers stay at full pressure at all times! If you lazy, low-brow, technically incompetent pack of guttersnipes did your jobs right, we could have sunk a hundred ships by now! But of course, fifty boats is a fine, fine achievement. Carry on, my boys, carry on.
"Why that little..." Gilda said, though that was followed by her taking a deep breath as she calmed her nerves, as she couldn't believe what she and the others had heard, "So all he does is sink ships and salvage the 'loot', though the way he said that makes me think he's just as lazy as he was when he delved into crime the first time... I am going to enjoy breaking his machines, stealing all of his Treasure Keys, and taking back his pages of the Thievius Raccoonus... and maybe beat Raleigh up in the process."
"That's why we're here," Sly stated, as while he shared Gilda's opinion on Raleigh, he also had his own opinions on the frog that had help take out his father all those years ago, before he sighed and looked at his sisters, who turned their attention to him for a moment, "Well, since there are four objectives and three of us, I suggest that we split into teams of two, meaning that two of us head into the same area and whoever is left over goes into an area on their own. Then, when we regroup, we switch the paring up and take out the other two objectives that are left... unless the two of you would rather tackle them all together?"
"No, time is of the essence since Carmelita is on her way with her police buddies," Derpy spoke up, to which she glanced at the opening that a walking squid guard, carrying a flashlight, happened to be patrolling while the three of them were talking, "so, since they're on their way here, we should separate into three groups and tackle three of the four objectives on our own. That would leave the last area for whoever finished their area first, though we should meet up near the generator once we have collected our own Treasure Keys... and, if I'm being honest, I'd like to take that area."
Sly was a little surprised that Derpy was actually suggesting that they split up in such a manner, but at the same time he knew that she spoke the truth, since they had no idea when Carmelita was supposed to arrive with her police force, to which he sighed and simply nodded his head. Gilda thought about it for a moment and silently repeated the gesture, revealing that she was okay with the separation as well, to which Derpy gripped them in a hug for a few seconds before pulling away from them. The two siblings watched as their sister sneaked up the ramp that would take her to the large opening she had been staring at, bypassing the guard in the process, and headed inside, before they sighed and thought about the remaining three locations they had to go through. That was quickly followed by Gilda walking to the left of where they were standing and grinned as she looked at the marker that was near them, indicating that another key was located at the end of the area that she wanted to tackle.
Sly chuckled as Gilda wordlessly entered the area of the boat that she wanted to take out, as he had to hazard a guess that it was the engine room or something similar, to which he headed over to the tower that was near the generator and listened to Bentley explain the specifics of the device in front of him... while at the same time wishing his sisters luck in getting their Treasure Keys and acquiring the pages of the Thievius Raccoonus that Raleigh had hidden in those areas.
Gilda approached the strange shaped door that was in front of her and opened it, where she walked into a hallway that had a furnace door that needed to be closed, though her decision to whack it with her cane was more justified when she spotted a clue bottle resting on it. With that in hand she continued forward and knocked out the hammer wielding guard that was blocking her path, before jumping onto a metal walkway as she delved deeper into the area that she had chosen for herself and collected a second bottle. While she followed the path Gilda noticed that this room seemed important to Raleigh's operation in some manner, though she only stopped in her tracks, after taking out a torch guard, when she noticed that Bentley wanted to tell her something.
Gilda, you're in the engine room! Bentley said, though at the same time Gilda smiled as she cracked her knuckles, as this was the room that she had been hoping to find when she picked her own path to take, My analysis tells me that if you trace the spinning crankshaft all the way back to its source, you'll find Raleigh's treasure key and sabotage his machine while you're at it.
When Bentley terminated the connection Gilda continued moving forward, to which she knocked out the guards that were in front of her, crossed over the rising and lowering pistons, and walked around a circular shaft, which allowed her to access a rope that brought her to the top of the shaft. From there she had to walk around the top, collected the bottle that was hiding there, and moved over to the moving metallic shaft that would point her in the right direction, where she smashed two more bottles and a glass hatch before entering a small hallway. Fortunately the torch guard was completely ignoring the path she was coming from, as she was able to knock him out within seconds, before she reached the top of the hallway and found some furnace doors resting on the sides of the room and made a path of sorts to some pipes that rested on the other side of the room.
Gilda smiled as she caused the six bottles that rested on the six furnace doors to fall to the floor beneath her, before collecting the three that were hanging in the air and made sure to smash all of them, where she counted that she had already collected fourteen of them before making her way to the other hatch and continued forward.
It was then that she spotted that the next area she had to go through had spinning blades that seemed to have electricity racing along the edges, though as she observed the area she realized that, if she were to stop when the blades moved through the path in front of her and go when they weren't there, she'd waste precious time on nothing. She knew that Sly would have gone along with the flow, since he didn't have wings, but since she had been born with them it seemed like a shame to not use her wings to her advantage. As such as opened her wings and flapped them for a few moments, to be sure that they were ready to go, before picking herself off the walkway she was on and started following the path that she had to follow... before she reached the end of the path and entered the hallway that was in front of her, where she knocked the guard out and found herself in an identical room to the one that had all of the bottles earlier.
Despite the fact that this room had some alarm beams in place, much like they encountered back in Paris, Gilda managed to collect all the bottles in the area, including the one that rested on the pipes near the end, before knocking out the guard and turning off the alarm... to which she made sure Bentley had the pictures of the clues before she headed towards the exit.
That was when she smiled again, as the new area she had discovered was the actual room that she had been looking for, as all of the rotating pieces of machinery and the heat she was feeling made her realize that this was where the engine was located. She quickly knocked out the guards that were in front of her before she started to collect the bottles in the area, as two rested near the entrance and one rested on the left side of the room, though she sighed as she walked behind the large piece of machinery and found a vault taunting her. Based on what she knew, by the number of bottles she had recovered, that Bentley likely didn't have the code to her vault, but her mood improved slightly as she looked at the other side of the area she was in and spotted a miniature safe that, when she opened it after taking out the nearby guard, contained two bottles.
"I was not expecting that." Gilda said, though as she sent the new clues to Bentley she had something to tell him, as she was sure that Derpy and Sly would be able to use this information as well, if they hadn't found the safes in their own areas anyway, "Hey Bentley, can you tell the others to be on the lookout for small safes that our half our height? They contain two clue bottles and might help them figure out where the other clues are hidden."
"Of course." Bentley replied, though it sounded like he was busy, which made sense considering that the siblings were taking three areas on at the same time and were sending him the clues that they discovered.
Gilda paused as she glanced at the vault once more, as she was sore that she hadn't found all of them yet, before she returned to the other side of the machinery it was hiding behind and used a piston and a hook to reach the top of the large piece of machinery. It was then that her mood improved, as she spotted what had to be the final clue, which was confirmed by Bentley when he told her that he had the combination to the vault in her area, but before she opened it up she latched her cane onto the hook in front of her, causing the part she was hanging onto to surge forward and break several pipes in the process. As the engine stopped spinning, and revealed a path to the core, Gilda pulled her cane back and headed down to the vault, where Bentley told her that the code was 2-2-7 and she input it into the tumblers that were in front of her... where she smiled as she pulled out the page for Old Sally Cooper's Fast Getaway Raccoon Roll technique, to which she gently stored the page in her pack before leaving her family's calling card.
From there she flared her wings and returned to the entrance of the engine's core, where she slammed the furnace doors down and found the case that contained the Treasure Key, to which she collected her second prize and stashed it inside her pack as well... before sighing as she made her way back to the entrance of the area as she wondered if Sly and Derpy had the same luck that she had.
"Jackpot." Derpy said, as the moment she entered the area that she had chosen she discovered that both sides of the hallway contained pieces of treasure that had been stolen from the various ships that Raleigh had sunk, some of which could easily pay for all their current operations if they were to sell them off.
One of the things that Sly had taught her and Gilda over the years, in order for them to become master thieves in the future, was to recognize the value in the pieces that he and the others had provided for the sisters to learn the skills necessary for their profession. Fortunately all three of them came equipped with a secondary pack that they could stash treasure, actual treasure and not the Treasure Keys or the pages of the Thievius Raccoonus that they recovered, so Bentley could help sell off what they acquired. As such she carefully walked down the hallway and studied the various pieces that Raleigh had salvaged, not taking anything since the security for this section was still online, before she smiled as she found the alarm system and silenced it... to which she headed back to the entrance and walked down the path again, though this time around she carefully studied the pieces and removed the pieces that had the best value.
Along the way she recovered two clue bottles and found a third near the exit for the hallway, though when she finished gathering treasure her secondary pack was filled to the maximum without weighing her down, to which she focused on the area in front of her... after receiving a message from Bentley, revealing that smaller safes existed and that they held two clue bottles in them.
Fortunately for Derpy the area she chose had a large open area between the floor and the ceiling, to which she chuckled as she opened her wings and floated off the floor, where she explored the area in front of the hallway's exit and noticed that the vault for this area was close to the entrance of Raleigh's treasure trove. She actually found three clues hiding off to the left side of the statue filled area she was flying over and another three to the right side, all of which she collected, along with the two that were in the first safe she discovered. She then discovered four more bottles resting above where the safe was located before she bothered to move forward, where she had to knock out two guards before opening the two additional safes that were on the pathway in front of her. As she did that Derpy noticed that, if she had been a normal thief instead of thief that possessed a pair of wings, she would have to jump over the large lily pads that formed a path to the pipe, which would allow someone to climb up to the area above them.
For her, on the other hand, she simply opened her wings and took to the air once more, though she still followed the path and collected the bottle that was down there, before spotting the alarm that powered the searchlights on the upper area and turned it off... allowing her to collect the remaining clue bottles, only for her to discover that she had twenty-nine of them and Bentley hadn't told her the combination yet.
"Where could the last one be?" Derpy asked herself, though instead of taking the Treasure Key she started flying around the chamber she was in and did her best to discover where the final bottle was resting, which happened to be right behind the area where she found the first safe, "Oh, there you are!"
With the final bottle acquired, and the clue sent off to Bentley for analysis, Derpy flew back to the case that the Treasure Key was resting in and claimed the key for family, before she headed over to where the vault was located and landed near it. A few more seconds ticked by before Bentley informed her that he had the combination, to which he revealed that the code was 4-3-6 and she input it immediately, where she discovered the blueprints for Raleigh's entire operation, where Bentley explained that he could now show her and the others where breakable objects and clues were if they used their binocucoms in the future, at least in Raleigh's area anyway. With that recovered, and she was a little saddened that she didn't acquire a page of the Thievius Raccoonus on her own, she stashed the pages away and replaced it with the calling card like she was supposed to... before heading back towards the entrance, though she paused a few more times to pick a few more pieces up, just to be sure she recovered enough to make this worth it.
Sly found that the area of the boat that rested below the tower he had entered, after running on a wheel like it was an exercise machine of some sort, happened to be the power source of the storm machine, while at the same time he found that the main vault was resting near the entrance. He discovered a bottle resting on the top of a furnace and a safe that contained two more bottles off to his left, near the vault, which he collected before having to jump off the second furnace to get the clue that was hanging above it. From there he carefully knocked out the guard that was in front of him and closed the furnace doors that were blocking his path, while collecting two more bottles, before coming to another wheel that he would have to run on. Before he did anything he knocked out the guard that was near the wheel and collected the four bottles that he could see, to which he empowered the wheel and made sure it was going at full speed before latching onto one of the hooks... which took him over to the other side of the room that he was in.
When he reached the other side of the room he knocked out the guard that was standing there, collected a clue bottle, and climbed up the pipe that was in front of him, which allowed him to cross over the gears in front of him and gathered three more bottles that happened to be in his way... before he reached another passage that required him closing some furnace doors so he could reach the next room that this area had.
As he came out the other side of the passage Sly knocked out the two guards that were in front of him, as well as took a moment to collect the four bottles that he could see at the moment, before discovering that a third guard was in the area and was too engrossed in his work to notice that he was even there. Just to be sure that the guard didn't raise an alarm Sly took him out before opening the safe and collecting the bottles inside it, as well as the four bottles that were hiding near some large pieces of coal. Once he had the bottles he turned to the wheel that was in front of him and started running on it, where he had to occasionally jump off it since a searchlight moved on it every now and then, before he eventually caused a large coal boulder to smash through the glass near him, allowing him to access the pathway that would bring him to the Treasure Key. Along the way he collected the last six clues that this area had, or at least that was his hope, before he reached the case that the key was in, which he took with some eagerness before he made his way back to the entrance of this area.
When Sly returned to the vault Bentley informed him that the code was 5-7-9, though as he input the code, and carefully opened the vault, he smiled as he pulled out the page of the Thievius Raccoonus that contained Dev Cooperinda's Slow Motion Jump technique... to which he stashed it away inside his pack and left the calling card, before heading out of the area so he could join his siblings.
Gilda waited outside the entrance of the fourth objective, as she wanted to see if her siblings were going to join her for the final area, before she eventually sighed and decided to take care of it herself, because she was sure that there was something inside Derpy's area that was keeping her busy while Sly had some searching to do. When she entered the fourth area she found that there were stacks of books in front of her, meaning that this had to be a library of some kind, along with two clues to her immediate right. As she rounded the corner she spotted that the flooring changed from wood to having an area with a rug over it, though as she walked forward a few rats spotted her and ran forward, only for them to be killed by darts. Those darts had been fired from what she had originally thought had been world globes, which had a dart gun of some kind in the center of them, before they closed once more and assumed their innocent appearance... but, as she considered things, her wings twitched as she discovered something interesting.
Since the dart guns couldn't hit her while she was in the air above them, as that was what she was resting, she landed behind them and smashed them with her cane, before collecting the bottles they had been guarding, knocked out the guard in front of her, and rode the lift down to the area below her... revealing that the area she was walking through was a large library of some kind.
When the lift came to a stop she flapped her wings and flew over the next rugged area and smashed the globes, before she carefully knocked out the guard that was patrolling the area in front of her and collected the bottles from the safe on her right. As she flew around she found a bottle hanging in the air and claimed it, as well as a trio of them that rested on top of a bookcase, before she knocked out the guard and approached the area that had a pair of furnaces, which seemed out of place considering that this was a library. She found six bottles resting around the furnaces, where two happened to be inside a safe, before she flew over the rug and smashed the globes that were there, though Gilda followed that up by collecting three more bottles and rode the lift up to the area above her. As she reached the top she discovered where the vault was located, though instead of following the path by walking she opened her wings and flew along the path.
That involved her smashing the various globes, disabling the alarms, knocking out the lone guard, and collecting the remaining clue bottles that were in this area, as she realized that her binocucom how revealed the location of every clue bottle in an area. She knew that it had to be because either Derpy or Sly had found something that gave them the information, though she wasn't complaining as she collected the remaining clues and let Bentley make the calculations needed to crack the code. A few moments later he informed her that the code was 2-4-2, to which she input the code and unlocked the vault, where she discovered the page containing Chris Cooper's Dive Collection, which was an extension of the Dive technique they recovered earlier. With the page in hand, and the calling card put in place, she returned to where the Treasure Key was located and claimed what she was after, before heading towards the entrance so she could meet back up with her siblings.
Sly and Derpy smiled as Gilda emerged from the area that the fourth objective was in, revealing that she must have finished much faster than they had done, before she handed Sly the pages of the Thievius Raccoonus that she had recovered so far. She also noticed that Derpy's secondary pack was missing, where her sister swiftly informed them that she had flown back to the van so she could give Bentley her treasure filled pack, while also telling them of what she found inside the area she had picked. Sly chuckled as they pooled their five keys together and used three of them to unlock the generator, before the three of them smashed the machine and powered down the power tube, allowing them to access the other side of Raleigh's boat. They all knew that the way to the storm machine was located somewhere on the other side of the power tube, to which the three of them moved forward and prepared themselves for whatever else they needed to do to reach Raleigh.
Soon they would be aboard his storm machine and claim his section of the Thievius Raccoonus, and then they could plan out which of his cohorts they wanted to go after next... after they bypassed Carmelita's team and departed from the Isle of Wrath first.
Sly, Gilda, and Derpy emerged from the power tube and observed their surroundings, as it appeared that they were now on the back side of Raleigh's boat and there didn't appear to be any direct way up to the storm machine, though before they thought about it too much all three of them pulled out their binocucoms and connected back up with Bentley, as he likely had some news for them.
"Astonishing!" Bentley said, though he actually sounded impressed over something, which made the siblings happy to hear that he might have been impressed by something they did, "All of my calculations led me to believe that it would have taken the three of you an hour to clear out all four of those areas, and you did it in forty minutes."
"We aim to please." Sly replied, though that didn't stop the three of them from grinning, as they had been planning on doing things fast and collecting what they came from, so this only proved that they were quite skilled with their current set of skills, "So what's next?"
"I've found a way up to Raleigh's hideout," Bentley told them, which was great news considering that the storm was still present, though it was dying down now that the engine had been stalled by Gilda's earlier work, while at the same time all three of them sensed there was something else they weren't being told, "but..."
"Let me guess," Gilda said, turning her binocucom over to the cannon that was resting near where they were standing, one that happened to be locked down with seven locks, just like the generator had three locks before she and her siblings broke them and smashed the generator, "we have to shoot ourselves out of that cannon?"
"Unfortunately that's the only way up there, short of waiting an hour or two for the storm to die down so you and Derpy can fly once more," Bentley replied, once more bringing up why the sisters couldn't actually use their wings while they were on the boat's deck, despite the fact that they used them inside the boat, "and you're going to need all seven of Raleigh's Treasure Keys in order to access the cannon."
"Well, it's a good thing we already have five of them," Derpy spoke up, to which Sly and Gilda nodded their agreement, as they only needed a few more Treasure Keys and they would be able to access Raleigh's storm machine, "just show us where the last two holographic markers are and we'll get the keys... and any pages of the Thievius Racconus as well."
With their mission clear Sly, Gilda, and Derpy put their binocucoms away and headed towards the cannon, though instead of stopping near it they walked up the nearby tower and only came to a stop when they reached the top, as it gave them a good view of the back half of Raleigh's ship... along with the remaining two areas that the three of them needed to claim the Treasure Keys from.
"It appears that we have two options available at the moment," Sly said, taking stock of the two areas that needed to be cleared, where one had to have a page from the family tome and the other did not, "the first involves using that submersible to go underwater and do something to collect the Treasure Key, while the second objective appears to be heading into that tube and entering another important part of Raleigh's operation. So, whose up for using the submersible while the others tackle the area beyond the tube?"
"One, two, three," Derpy replied, though while appeared that Sly was more focused on what was in front of them, and was waiting for a proper response, Gilda knew exactly what her sister was doing, "not it!"
"Not it!" Gilda added, already knowing that by the time Sly realized what was going on he wouldn't actually be able to complain, as Derpy occasionally pulled this on their brother and he fell for it all the time, though sooner or later he'd surprise her and do it before she even thought about it.
"Not again..." Sly commented, to which he brought a palm up to his face and sighed for a moment, before he stared out at the two objectives and decided that he might as well roll with it, like he usually did, "Very well, since you two would rather explore whatever is on the other side of the tube I'll take the submersible and see what awaits me under the water... besides a Treasure Key anyway."
"Sounds like a plan." Gilda said, though as Derpy started moving towards the tube in question, and the guard that was patrolling the entrance, she rested a hand on her brother's shoulder, "Don't worry, I'll take care of Derpy and make sure nothing bad happens to her."
Sly knew that, after successfully navigating an area of Raleigh's boat, claiming some of the more expensive treasure that they could sell later on, and getting both the contents of the vault and the Treasure Key, all on her own he mentally added, Derpy didn't need someone watching over her all the time. Still, despite that fact, there wasn't much else they could do at the moment, so having Gilda follow after Derpy while she explored seemed like the best thing to do, so he simply nodded his head and Gilda followed after their sister, who had already knocked out the guard and was heading inside the tube. Sly chuckled at that as he made his way down to the walkway below the tower and crossed over to where the submersible was being guarded, because he was sure that his sisters would be able to complete their task without encountering anything too dangerous... to which he knocked out the guard and climbed into the submersible.
He also knew that, when they got back together after these last two objectives, they would tackle Raleigh and get back his section of the family tome... and then they would figure out who to go after next, once the first member of the Fiendish Five had been taken out.
When Derpy and Gilda emerged from the tube they discovered that the area of the boat they were in was like a ship graveyard of some kind, as the water level seemed to be the exact same was what was outside the boat and there were a large number of crashed ships all around the place. Before they could actually move one and investigate the area, while gathering all the clues and getting what they came for, the intercom turned on for a moment, meaning that Raleigh was going to speak to his crew and caused the sisters to remain silent for the next few seconds.
Ahoy, dock hands! Raleigh said, sounding pleased about something, while at the same time making the sisters wonder what information he was going to give them, even if he didn't intend for them to hear his words, Capital job unloading that cargo last night. You're the crown jewel of my operation. Do me the service of proving your worth yet again by protecting the Treasure Key that I have stored down there. It appears there is a prowler on the premises. And if any of you let him get his hands on that key, I'll personally flog the lot of you for an entire fortnight!
"So Raleigh thinks that there's only one thief instead of three." Gilda commented, though that made things interesting for them, since it appeared that their foe's goons or machines weren't telling him the entire story, "Well, he's going to be in for quite the surprise when we reach him."
"Yeah, and I can't wait to get to him," Derpy said, though as she looked around the area she thought about what they just heard and lingered on the last word their target had said, "Hey Gilda, what does 'fortnight' mean anyway?"
"I think it means a period of two weeks," Gilda replied, as she actually surprised that her sister even cared about the word, since it didn't really mean anything to the two of them, especially not when they were here for two specific items that likely were at the other end of the area.
"So if we took the Treasure Key, but didn't take Raleigh down, he'd flog his crew for two weeks straight?" Derpy asked, as that was what she was gathering from what they heard Raleigh say over the intercom, which only made her want to take the frog down even more.
Gilda nodded her head, as she guessed that Raleigh had said something to that effect, before Derpy sighed and decided that it was time for them to get started on their part of the operation, to which she turned to her immediate right and gathered the two clues inside the safe. While she did that Gilda collected the two bottles that were in the lower area in front of this ship's wheel, before helping Derpy ambush and knock out the guard that was standing at the edge of the ruined deck they were standing on. Once that was taken care of they noticed that there were two more clue bottles resting on some broken bits of ship between them and where the mast part rested, though instead of wasting time jumping around the sisters opened their wings and flew across the gap, though while Gilda knocked out the guard and turned off the alarm Derpy gathered the bottles... along with the two that were in the safe that the guard had been protecting.
Before they moved forward Gilda also spotted another bottle resting behind the bottom part of the mast, which she smashed and sent the information to Bentley, though that was followed by her and Derpy heading to the wrecked airplane that happened to be hanging above their heads... where they found a pair of bottles being completely covered by a searchlight, meaning they couldn't be taken at the moment.
Instead of bothering with the searchlights, and potentially setting one off in the process, Gilda flew around the moving beams and switched off the alarm, though as the beams faded away Derpy smashed the two bottles she had been staring at and sent their contents to Bentley. With those in hand she returned to where Gilda was standing and they moved around the circular tube that was in their way, like actual thieves, before they walked along some bits of an airplane's wing while spotting a pair of bottles ahead of them. Behind the bottles rested another guard, someone that Gilda knocked out while Derpy collected the contents of the bottles, though after that they discovered that the normal way for them to progress would have been to jump and grab onto a rope so they could pass over a guard's head. Instead of doing that Gilda and Derpy flew over to the next part of the area and knocked out the guard that happened to be patrolling the area, before collecting two more bottles that were at the end of the submarine that Raleigh's men had captured.
With that taken care of Derpy flew across the debris that were in front of them and collected the two bottles that were scattered around the area, while at the same time Gilda knocked out the guards that happened to be in the area, before landing and collecting the remaining three clues that were near her, as two were in a safe and the other was sitting around for anyone to claim. After that they followed the rope that was in front of them and found the area that the Treasure Key was located in, as well as the vault that rested in this area, though instead of opening it herself Gilda moved out of the way and let Derpy listen to Bentley, since she knew that Derpy wanted to claim at least one page of the Thievius Raccoonus before they finished off the Fiendish Five. Derpy waited beside the vault for a few seconds, letting Bentley finish up his calculations, before he had the combination, where Derpy turned to the tumblers and input 7-1-9, to which she discovered a page from the family tome... or, more specifically, Karin Coopergiwa's Coin Magnet technique, which meant that she, Gilda, and Sly would automatically collect any coins they came near.
The moment Derpy had the page in her hand, and had a smile on her face, Gilda snatched the Treasure Key from the case as the calling card was placed where it was supposed to go, before the two of them opened their wings and headed back towards the entrance of the area... while at the same time wondering how Sly was doing on his end of things.
Sly sighed as he descended into the depths with the submersible that he had liberated from the guard that had been protecting it, where he came to a stop in what appeared to be a circular shaped chamber with tubes scattered around the edge of the area. There were rocks and what could have been seaweed all around him, though as he rotated the submersible around, and observed the area that he would be going through, he found that the Treasure Key he was after happened to be floating in the middle of the area. He guessed that there was something specific he had to do in order to release the key from whatever was holding it in place, if his thoughts were correct, though as he familiarized himself with the controls he found that it came equipped with some guns, meaning that he likely needed to shoot something before he claimed the Treasure Key.
His thoughts were proven right as Bentley informed him that he had to grab all of the chests before Raleigh's crabs took even one of the chests into the tubes around him, while also informing him that the information was coming from the blueprints that Derpy had found earlier... to which Sly decided not to question why Raleigh thought this was a good idea and started firing at the crabs the moment they emerged from the tubes.
As it turned out it was rather easy to collect the contents of each chest while making sure that the crabs never took a single one towards their tubes, despite the fact that some of the crabs were lucky enough for a chest to land on their heads at random. Sly knew that Bentley would be able to sell the treasure they were collecting, and maybe hide some of it somewhere for later use in the future, so he collected everything he could and made sure that the crabs never dragged one of the chests away. From what he had been told he needed to get forty chests before he could claim the Treasure Key and head back to the surface, so while he worked Bentley cheered him on and made small comments about what was going on around him... before he claimed the last of the forty chests and claimed the Treasure Key, to which he headed back up to the surface and left the depths behind.
When he returned to the surface, and brought the submersible to a stop, he climbed out of it and walked across the platform that was in front of him, to which he walked over to where the cannon rested and found both of his sisters standing near it with a smile on their faces.
"I take it you found something in the other area?" Sly asked, though at the same time Gilda handed over the Treasure Key that she and Derpy had acquired, bringing their grand total to seven for Raleigh's base, meaning that it was time for them to reclaim the first portion of the Thievius Raccoonus.
"Karin Coopergiwa's Coin Magnet technique." Derpy replied, to which she happily handed him the page that she had been holding onto since she found it, where Sly smiled as well as he carefully stored it inside the binding that contained all of the other pages they had rescued so far, "All we have to do is stand near coins and let them come towards us."
"Nice." Sly said, as it was nice to have another part of the family tome to look over when they had some spare time, but before he got distracted he decided that it was time for them to get serious and looked up at the storm machine that was above their heads, "Well, since we've got all seven Treasure Keys now, shall we reveal ourselves to our unknowing host and claim what belongs to the Cooper Clan?"
Gilda and Derpy nodded their heads and let Sly use the seven Treasure Keys to unlock the locks that resting around the cannon, to which they came undone and the lid opened, meaning that they could now use the cannon to shoot themselves up to the storm machine. Since the cannon was too small for all three of them to fit inside it, and they couldn't sit two of them without hurting each other in the process, it was decided that Gilda and Derpy would test their luck and fly after Sly once the cannon had been fired. It was a risk since the storm machine was still operational, but with the size of the cannon, and not knowing if Raleigh had something installed that would seal a breach in the machine's exterior, they were going to have to put their faith in they wouldn't be shocked by lightning on the way to Raleigh's hideout. The moment the three of them were in agreement, and Bentley wished them all luck with the first member of the Fiendish Five, Sly climbed into the cannon and the lid closed behind him.
The sisters opened their wings as they watched the cannon turn towards the storm machine and point up until it was aiming right at it, though the moment Sly was launched from the cannon both Gilda and Derpy followed after him as he headed towards Raleigh's hideout.
After a few seconds of flying through the air Sly smashed through one of the glass windows that allowed Raleigh to see outside his storm machine, to which he landed on a platform that was floating on some water, along with a few more identical platforms that formed a circle around a central pedestal. A few moments later Gilda and Derpy flew through the hole he had created and landed on either side of him, where all three of them quickly looked around the area they were in and found that the open chamber was filled with machinery, which made sense considering what they were inside. That was before they spotted the frog they had been searching for, sitting on a red velvet throne and wearing a metallic hat that was taller than his entire body, staring down at them. At the moment Raleigh seemed uninterested in what was going on, but at the same time they knew that his interests could change and readied themselves accordingly, since they knew a fight was going to break out soon enough.
"How delightful. We have guests." Raleigh said, his tone suggesting that he was bored at the moment, though that was before they detected a hint of anger in his voice as he glared down at them all, while also waving a hand in the air for a few seconds, "The only thing is... I hate unexpected guests!"
"Listen, Raleigh." Sly stated, as he was happy to have finally caught up with a member of the Fiendish Five, to which he raised his cane and pointed the hook right at Raleigh for a few seconds, "Wipe out our family and steal what's ours, you had better expect company."
"Oh, I'm ever so sorry." Raleigh replied, though his tone indicated that he didn't care about the fact that Sly was threatening him, while at the same time he seemed to be thinking about something, "How sloppy of me not to finish the job. Obviously we should have snuffed you all out as well. So, without further ado, let me make amends by, what... squashing the lot of you like the insignificant pests that you are!"
"And how are you going to do that?" Derpy inquired, as she, along with her siblings, were interested in what sort of tricks their opponent had for them, especially since Raleigh was the chief machinist for the Fiendish Five, meaning that he had to have something interesting for them to face, "Did you create a weapon that channels the power of the storm machine so you can fire bolts of lightning, gusts of wind, or shower us with frigid rain? Or maybe some sort of fighting robot that expands from your throne and requires us to go through a certain process to weaken it's defenses?"
"Actually, I was going to bloat to a gargantuan size and squash you." Raleigh stated, though as he said that the siblings noticed that the wheels in his head were spinning, meaning that he was considering some new machines for when he bested them, "Oh well, I can still handle you with my own strength."
"Bring it on." Gilda challenged, to which she, Sly, and Derpy prepared themselves and readied their canes, as they knew that Raleigh would be coming after them with the intent of killing them, even though the three of them were simply going to knock him out before they left with his pages.
Raleigh glared at them as he opened his mouth and snatched one of the bugs out of the air that happened to be flying near his throne, to which his body did expand to an immense size and he jumped down onto the platform that was right in front of him, before coming to a stop on the central pedestal. When Raleigh descended to the platform that the siblings were standing on both Gilda and Derpy moved into the air and moved around as they searched for a weakness they could exploit. Sly, on the other hand, grinned as he moved away from the large frog that was trying to squash him, though after four or five more jumps Raleigh reverted back to his original size and Sly missed his chance to hit him, but his sisters slammed their canes into Raleigh while he was in the air, knocking him into the water for a moment... while at the same time Sly was thankful that his sisters had wings, as it actually made some things easier for them all.
A few seconds following his receiving of two canes to the face, and being knocked into the water, Raleigh jumped back up to the central pedestal and snatched another bug out of the air, though this time around the other platforms, save the one Sly was on, sunk and forced Sly to remain in a single spot. This time around Sly was ready for Raleigh, as he carefully moved around the platform when Raleigh landed on it and counted the number of times the frog jumped from place to place, as the moment he reached the five count Raleigh deflated and that was when he moved in. The instant Raleigh returned to his original size Sly smacked him with his cane and knocked him into the water, to which the frog growled as he returned to the pedestal and enlarged his body once more. This time around Sly was forced to move faster, as the platforms that Raleigh landed on as he chased him were designed to sink until he deflated, but he, once again, failed to account for Gilda and Derpy flying around the area... a fact he was reminded about when two canes struck him in the face as he headed towards the pedestal again.
The siblings could tell that Raleigh was in pain, as they could have sworn that he huffed for a moment as he got another bug and expanded his body, before he landed on Sly's platform and sunk the other ones, though this time around he spun around and used his tongue in an attempt to hit his target... to which Sly simply jumped over the tongue a few times before Raleigh stopped, where he smacked Raleigh and knocked him into the water. This time around, however, the siblings noticed that Raleigh had enough of the fight, as he went still as he floated in the water, though Gilda was quick to pull him out and verify that he was just knocked out. With that confirmed she also found a key on Raleigh's body, which happened to go to the safe that rested at the bottom of Raleigh's throne, though with that in hand the siblings moved over to the throne and did two things; disable the storm machine in it's entirety, to the best of their ability and what Bentley told them to do, and claimed the contents of the safe.
They soon discovered that Raleigh's section of the Thievius Raccoonus held detailed instructions on how to perform Rioichi Cooper's Ninja Spire Jump technique, which he developed while sneaking into the thickly fortified castles of Feudal Japan, along with some documentation on where Muggshot, the next member of the Fiendish Five, was located, which was Mesa City. With those two items in hand Sly let Gilda and Derpy carry him out of the storm machine, after leaving the calling card behind, where they spotted Carmelita and her squad moving in to arrest Raleigh's men... and they knew that, in a few days while they rested from this venture, they would see a picture of her, with a captured Raleigh, in the newspaper.
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.
"Okay, so how are we going to do this?" Derpy asked, as she, Gilda, and Sly could see three areas that they could take on and search for Treasure Keys, as well as any pages of the Thievius Raccoonus that they might have, and she was interested in what her siblings were thinking about.
"Well, considering that Muggshot's guard are using actual guns instead of throwing stars," Sly said, to which he gestured to the gangster dog that was walking on the other side of the small bridge that they needed to cross, as well as the other one that was patrolling near the convertible he had spotted, "we might be better served to split into two teams, even if that means that someone has to tackle an area alone. As such I would suggest that you and I take on the Boneyard Casino, which is actually lined up with where we're standing, while Gilda takes on one of the other areas at the same time."
"That sounds fair," Gilda commented, though after what they had done in Raleigh's base, and she had been in three different areas and collected three different safes, along with the items they contained, she guessed that taking one area, and potentially even a second one, was enough at the moment, "Well, while you take the casino on, I'll see what's at the marker to our right... and then maybe the other one, if I have time before you two return."
As Sly and Derpy nodded, as they were all in agreement about what they were going to do next, Gilda flew over to the backside of the gangster dog that was in front of them and knocked him out, letting the duo walk forward and approach the entrance of the casino... only to stop when the intercom came on and Muggshot started speaking, which they listened to since he might reveal something to them.
Yo, yo, yo! It's the boss! Muggshot said, causing the siblings to wonder why he was speaking in such a manner, as they were sure that gangsters didn't do that, but since none of them had seen the movie that gave Muggshot the desire for this lifestyle they really couldn't judge him too harshly for he had said, You know, I've been forced to admit that maybe driving everyone out of town, while necessary to set up shop, might have taken a hit out of their business. So now, I hope you mugs would be a pleasure to admit any visitors that come here to lose their money in my casino. But, I got a reliable tip that a cop might be snooping around the operation. So from now on, greet any visitors you see with a hail of lead! Capiche?
"Okay, so Muggshot is definitely the less intelligent member of the Fiendish Five," Gilda said, while at the same time she moaned as she considered what their foe had said, as she was sure that her siblings had thought the same thing, "So he tells his guards to admit people so they can lose their money, only to turn around and tell them to greet said visitors with a hail of bullets because a cop might be in the area. He basically told his guards to shoot anyone that shows up, regardless of why they came to Mesa City in the first place... I'm glad we're going to be knocking this guy down a peg."
"His current crimes might not be as bad as Raleigh's crimes, but his past crime is the same," Sly stated, referring to the reason they were here in the first place, to which his sisters nodded their heads for a moment, before sighing and turning towards the area he and Derpy had been heading towards, "and, since she's been following us since Paris, I'm fairly certain that this 'cop' that Muggshot heard about is Carmelita, which means we need to move fast before she catches us and stops us from completing our mission."
"Then let's get started." Derpy commented, to which she ran over to the entrance of the Boneyard Casino and headed inside, leaving Sly and Gilda to chuckle for a few seconds before splitting up and heading to the areas that they had picked out a few minutes ago.
When Sly caught up with Derpy he found that she was standing in front of the true casino entrance, as the one outside was just the sign pointing to where people would go to lose their money, though he noticed that a car had been driven into the area and was now parked near the door. The entrance itself was made of glass and appeared to be locked at the moment, though the reason Derpy hadn't smashed through it was because the sound of the glass breaking would alert the nearby guards as to the fact that someone was there. Fortunately there happened to be a switch nearby that opened the door for them and turned off the lights that were around them, allowing them to enter the casino under the cover of darkness, or in the shadows at least. As they walked out into the open area they discovered a gangster dog guarding the path in front of them, as well as two more of them patrolling the slot machines behind it, meaning that they were going to have to be careful in this area.
Of course that had been Sly's plan when he noticed what was arrayed against them, though Derpy simply opened her wings and flew over the first gangster dog, knocking him out before he had a chance to even know that someone was there, before slipping behind the other two and repeating the process. Sly had to admit that sometimes it was a good thing that Derpy and Gilda had wings, as it allowed them to overcome certain obstacles that he had to face on the ground, though at the same time they always returned to the ground so they didn't alert the guards to their presence. Besides, having the gangster dogs taken out for the moment was a blessing, as he was sure that they could have come running if one of their friends set off an alarm, something that Bentley would likely agree with, so he said nothing as he and Derpy explored the area that they were in.
They found two clue bottles along the route that the patrolling gangster dogs had been following, though as Sly collected them they spotted another guard waiting ahead of them, to which Derpy knocked him out as well before the two of them moved towards a pair of slot machines.
"I'll never understand why people like playing these machines and losing money on them all the time," Derpy said, though as she said that she noticed that the machine she approached happened to have a few loose coins resting on the floor in front of it, to which she picked them up and shrugged as she slipped a few of them into the slots, just to see what it was like to play one of the machines.
"Everyone has their own interests, and gambling is one of them," Sly replied, though he watched as Derpy pulled the lever and stared at the tumblers for a few seconds, to which they were both amazed when they came to a stop and coins started spilling out because she got the jackpot prize, while noticing that the sound on the machine was busted, "and you just put a lot of gamblers to shame by scoring a jackpot on your first attempt."
"Oops?" Derpy offered, as she had no idea if that was a good thing or a bad thing, especially since she didn't care about this at all, though she took a few of the coins and tried the next machine out, just for kicks, only to sigh as she scored yet another jackpot, "Okay, I'm so not doing this anymore. Once was fine, because I didn't care, but two jackpots in a row is creepy, especially when I like being a thief and don't want to become the ultimate gambler that always wins."
Sly chuckled as he and Derpy collected the coins, all of which possessing Muggshot's likeness of them, as he intended to hand them over to Bentley the first chance he got, as he was sure that they could make some money off of the lot, which they could add to what Derpy earned them from the treasure she took from Raleigh. If he didn't know better he would have sworn on the Thievius Raccoonus that Derpy was a member of the Cooper Clan with how she acted towards thieving, as it was almost like it was in her blood before he found her and Gilda at the orphanage. Sure, he had seen their original talent when the three of them, along with Murray and Bentley, stole the cookies from the headmistress of the orphanage, the reasoning behind why that was their first heist was sort of lost at this point in time, but it had spurred him to teach the girls the finer points that his father had taught him before his tragic end... and they took to it like they had been born just to be thieves, quickly earning the right to be called Coopers, in his opinion anyway.
He was also sure that his father, and the rest of their ancestors, were more than happy to have three young and successful heirs to the Cooper legacy, especially when they were in the process of restoring the family's most precious treasure and heirloom... before he pushed the thoughts back where they belonged and followed after Derpy as they delved deeper into what the casino had to offer.
The first thing they came across was another section of the new floor beams, though since there appeared to be three strips of it instead of two, like the last time they encountered this obstacle, they were able to run down the sides that didn't have any beams and switched to the middle one when it was time. It didn't take them long to reach the end of that obstacle and reach the end of where they rested, to which the duo collected the two clue bottles in front of them and bypassed the searchlights that were in the hallway. A few seconds later Sly and Derpy stopped near the alarm and switched it off, disabling both the floor beams and the searchlights, before they climbed up on top of a walkway that would allow them to sneak above a pair of gangster dogs. Derpy, of course, took a few moments to study how the guards were standing and noticed that there was enough room between them and the walkway that she could drop down behind them and surprise them, to which she did just that and knocked the two guards out... before she collected the three bottles they had been guarding while Sly did the same with the two that had been at the end of his walkway.
From there the duo started climbing up the rope that was in front of them, where Derpy grabbed the bottle at the bottom of it and smashed all of the ones she had collected so Bentley could have a large pool of clues to work from, before she followed after them... to which they crossed over the cash sign shaped chandeliers, grabbed another bottle, and knocked out the guard that was directly below them in the new area they had found.
Instead of moving forward immediately, like anyone else would do, the duo carefully explored the area around them and found seven more bottles in the area, where a few had been hidden up where some plants were located and needed a few seconds for them to find them. Once they had all the bottles in the area, and Derpy ignored the trio of slot machines that were on their right, the duo headed down the laser infested floor and made sure to jump when the lights were changing so they didn't set off the alarm. When they reached the end of the area, where Derpy took out the gangster dog before he could spot Sly, they took a few seconds to silence the alarm before they doubled back to collect the four hanging bottles that they had ignored in favor of turning off the systems. With those in hand they returned to the path in front of them and walked under a wooden effigy of Muggshot, complete with swinging legs for some reason, though as they moved forward they had to take out a card throwing dog while his back was turned.
They also collected the two bottles that were leading up to him, also ignored in favor of knocking him out first, before they walked down the ramp he had been guarding and found that a good part of the casino was flooded, meaning that Muggshot either didn't know about this or he didn't care about the place he forcefully acquired from it's original owners.
Fortunately it appeared that there were some gambling tables that were large enough for them to walk on without having to wade through the water, to which the duo carefully moved over the tables, to avoid making them sink, and collected a pair of bottles that were in front of them. After that they had to jump on three spinning tables and wait till they were near the next one in line before they could move forward, though their patience was rewarded with two more bottles once they jumped off the third spinning table. They then climbed up the nearby stairs and removed the pair of bottles that were in the safe they discovered, before they jumped up onto the next table in front of them and moved along the path it provided them, along with yet another pair of bottles. As they jumped across another trio of spinning tables Derpy realized that they had to be getting close to the end, as this many bottles in a row meant they had to be close to where the vault was located, and that was generally in the same area that the Treasure Key was resting in.
When they reached the end of the line, however, they turned off the alarm and jumped down onto a pair of tables below them, where they walked along the tables that rested in front of them and climbed up to a set of cash sign shaped chandeliers, before they came to a stop at the last one... where Derpy flew down and knocked out the gangster dog that was blocking the path, allowing Sly to claim the clue bottle before they moved on.
The next obstacle happened to be another trio of spinning tables, this time going in the reverse direction of what they were used to, and they also had another set of laser beams that would go off if they simply touched them, to which both Sly and Derpy carefully waited for the time to jump and did so when it showed up. From there it was a simple matter for them to reach the other table that the spinning ones were bringing them to, as well as disabling the alarm in the process, before collecting two more bottles and had to contend with yet another trio of spinning tables that had everything the last one had. The only difference was this new set of spinning tables was moving slower than the third set they came across, though that worked to their advantage as they were able to use a few smaller jumps to access the next table before they reached the end of the line. Sure enough three bottles, as well as the alarm to the beams, rested in front of them, as well as the vault they had been searching for, but since they didn't have all the clues they couldn't open it... where Sly and Derpy smiled as they climbed up on the chandeliers above them, as the last clue was up there, waiting for someone to claim it.
With all forty clue bottles claimed, and their contents shipped off to Bentley, the duo stood beside the vault and waited for the combination to be given to them, though when Bentley finally contacted them, and informed them that the code was 3-3-8. It was then that they recovered a page from the Thievius Raccoonus, or more accurately B.F. Cooper's technique on how to speed up the clock, which Bentley commented would be good for long stakeouts and other events that were similar to that. With the calling card in position the duo climbed up the rope again and dropped down onto the large spinning roulette wheel that was below them, where they had to jump in the opposite direction of how it was spinning and land on the green sections three times... before claiming the Treasure Key that had been stored in this area.
"Hey Sly," Derpy said, though at the same time she grabbed onto her bother and started flying towards the entrance, since it would be hard for him to make it all the way out on his own, "How do you think Gilda's doing on her own?"
"She's fine." Sly replied, as he had absolute faith in Gilda's abilities as a thief, just like he had faith in Derpy's skills, though at the same time he wondered what she was facing on her end, "Don't worry, I'm sure she's got one of the other two Treasure Keys by this point."
Derpy nodded her head and flew towards the entrance of the casino, because she was interested in hearing what her sister had gone through and what sort of challenges she needed to overcome before she could claim the Treasure Key that she had gone after.
Gilda had, once Sly and Derpy headed into the casino, flown around the area just to see where the other guards were located, which she knocked out immediately so she could have free reign of the entire area, before she landed in front of a tunnel that forced her to climb down a passage for a few moments. When she finally came to a stop, however, she landed beside what appeared to be a gun that someone could operate, though as she looked out at the area in front of her, and noticed that it was further away than what she would have expected, she found Murray standing near a locked gate. Since she had no idea what was going on at the moment, and had no idea why Murray was here, she pulled out her binocucom and connected it to Bentley, as she was sure that he had the answers to her questions.
"Bentley, what am I looking at?" Gilda asked, though she was slightly concerned for Murray's safety, especially since he's actually never been out in the field in a manner like this, save for being the driver for all of their various adventures that they had been on over the years.
"I scanned the area for more of Muggshot's Treasure Keys and Murray volunteered to get this one," Bentley replied, to which Gilda zeroed in on where Murray was standing, who turned and waved in the direction of the gun, which happened to be where she was standing, "He's in position to make a run for this key. What he needs is for someone to provide cover fire for him while he's doing that, and that's where you come in."
"I should be able to do this easily," Gilda said, as she studied the controls for a moment and found out that they were oddly simple, so she put away her binocucom, accessed the blasting station, and fired a test shot at the gate, opening it so Murray could get started.
The moment Murray started moving through the section of town that he was going to be running through, and Gilda followed after him while focusing on the area around him, he immediately stopped when one of the garage doors opened and a plank wielding guard emerged from the building. Before Murray even had a chance to cower in fear Gilda fired upon the guard and let him continue moving, to which she carefully watched for more plank wielding guards, especially since they appeared to be in control of this area. As Murray moved Gilda spotted some barrels, with what appeared to be the radioactive symbol on the side, that exploded when she fired at one of them, so when she cleared the next group of guards she quickly diverged from the path and blew the barrels, that would be blocking her path in the future, apart and got back to Murray in time to take out another guard.
It wasn't long before Murray made his way through the wrecked train that was along his path and safely reached the other side, though while he ran through the town Gilda made sure to fire at the guards that were showing up and held her fire when some barrels were revealed near Murray. From there Murray used a crane to reach the top of the buildings that would allow him to grab the Treasure Key, though that was when the opponents turned to gangster dogs, which were faster than the plank wielding dogs. Gilda, however, was still faster than those dogs and shot them the moment they made their appearance and let Murray move on once more, though as he did so Gilda noticed that he seemed slightly braver than he had been when he started this venture. A few moments later Murray reached the Treasure Key and grabbed it, to which Gilda made sure that he made a clean getaway with their prize before climbing off the blasting station and told Murray to hold onto the key so he could hand it to her when she arrived at the van.
Bentley, however, told her that there was another key that only Murray could get, to which Gilda sighed and headed back to the main area in front of the building, though since neither of her siblings were back yet she flew over to the third and final marker before finding herself on an overlook that allowed her to stare down at a race track.
As it turned out Murray had come here earlier for a snack and had been challenged to a race by some gangster dogs, who were actually willing to wait for a few minutes so he could prepare for this, which in reality was just his way of wanting someone to watch his back and cheer him on. Since Gilda was reduced to having a supporting role this time around, not that she was annoyed with such a thing, she cheered Murray on as he rode the van, which Bentley was still sitting in, onto the track and lined up behind the four dogs he would be racing against. Gilda knew that Murray liked to work on his van and what not, but when the race started he bumped into the racers that were trying to do the same to him and slowly made his way from fifth place to fourth place, using the nitro boosts that were along the track to his advantage. If Bentley was inside the van he made no noise as Murray raced to his hearts content, surprising Gilda with the fact that he didn't flip over in the process.
Gilda smiled and cheered Murray on the entire time, watching him make his way all the way up to the first place position and then got ahead of the dog that had been hogging that position the entire time, until he finished the third and final lap, claiming a second Treasure Key for Gilda and her siblings.
"Did I do good Gilda?" Murray asked, though while he claimed the second Treasure Key he also claimed the snack that he had been denied when he came out here the first time, something that he was going to eat after Gilda and the keys were gone and he was on his way back to where the van was supposed to be resting.
"You did excellent Murray." Gilda replied, and she meant it, because while Murray might not have any field experience, like her and her siblings, he had the makings of overcoming his fears and becoming something greater, "Go ahead and relax, you've definitely earned it this time around."
Murray smiled as he climbed back into the van, with his snack in hand, and drove off back to the entrance of Muggshot's territory, leaving Gilda with the two Treasure Keys that he had collected, who opened her wings and flew back to the entrance of the building, where she found her siblings waiting for her.
"Gilda!" Derpy said, throwing her arms around her sister when she landed, though at the same time Sly smiled and approached his sisters, holding the page of the Thievius Raccoonus that he and Derpy had acquired, "What did you do while we were inside the casino?"
"Oh, I helped Murray make a run for a Treasure Key," Gilda replied, though as she got out from her sister's hold she handed the keys over to Sly, who knew exactly what they were going to do with it, "and then I watched him race some gangster dogs, where he claimed the second Treasure Key."
"Wow, he's been a busy friend." Sly said, though at the same time he used three of the four keys they possessed to unlock the locks on the convertible, to which they stood back as he pulled the lever and let the car slam into the wooden barrier that was blocking their way.
Once that was removed the siblings walked inside the building, because now they were officially one step closer to taking on Muggshot and recovering what he had taken from them, though they knew that they would need to acquire a few more Treasure Keys before they could do that... which they were more than happy to collect, especially since they were bound to have more pages of the Thievius Raccoonus near them.
With the way into the main building opened, and no additional guards came out to check out the noise they made in doing so, Sly and his sisters carefully walked into the building and followed the path that was in front of them, where they entered the lobby of the building and looked at what was around them. From what they could tell Bentley had already determined where the remainder of Muggshot's Treasure Keys were located and had already projected their locations to them, to which they made their way up the stairs that were in front of them. Of course they had to take out two plank wielding guards to reach the top of the stairs, but it made sense for Muggshot to want someone guarding this area, especially since there were two gangster dogs standing guard near some of the places they needed to go. The three of them then stopped at the construct that was in front of them, as it appeared to be a mug in the likeness of Muggshot's head, though all of them frowned for a few seconds.
"Would you look at that ugly mug?" Sly commented, as he was sure that someone had purposely created this construct in such a manner, though at the same time whoever had made it likely did so to get at Muggshot, no doubt for what happened to Mesa City.
"I am, and I find it infinitely fascinating." Bentley said, though him speaking up caused all three of the siblings to pull out their binocucoms, so they could see him while he talked to them, especially when his words confused them.
"Huh?" Sly, Gilda, and Derpy said, as they weren't incredibly fascinated by the ugly representation of Muggshot's head, though they were interested in why Bentley was so interested in it and knew that he would tell them why that happened to be the case.
"My x-ray detection devices reveal that a secret elevator is contained within that giant head." Bentley stated, to which the siblings glanced at it for a few seconds, as now their interests had been raised as they wondered what else their friend had to tell them, "One that's designed to go right up to Muggshot's penthouse."
"So how do we get in?" Derpy asked, though even as she said that she assumed that they needed the other Treasure Keys, as that was what they had to do back in Raleigh's place and figured that the same would be true here, but she wanted to see what Bentley had to say.
"Behind this locked wall, there's a level that summons the elevator." Bentley replied, to which their attention was directed to the area in question, which happened to rest behind a help desk that people would have approached had Muggshot not take the city, "But I don't need to tell you what you need to do so you can unlock it."
"We need the other three Treasure Keys." Gilda stated, though at the same time Bentley acknowledged that she was correct and the connection between them was cut off, to which they all put away their binocucoms and looked at the areas they had to go through this time, "Let's see here, knowing our luck Carmelita is already in one of these areas, since she's supposed to be somewhere nearby, and I have to hazard a guess that she's in the path to the left. Sly, since your the one interested in her, why don't you investigate that area and see what you can find?"
"That's fine with me." Sly said, as he would have volunteered for the area that Carmelita was in if they had spotted her in an area, though he wasn't going to question Gilda's thoughts on the matter, because she was generally right about these sorts of things.
"Derpy, you should take that entrance over there," Gilda continued, pointing to one that appeared to have an elevator nearby, one that would take her up to somewhere that was above where they were standing, "It seems that a Treasure Key is resting somewhere on the roof, so you should be able to get at it before Sly and I come close to grabbing our keys or the vaults in our area."
"Awesome!" Derpy said, though that was followed by her opening her wings before departing from their company, where they watched as she landed in front of the entrance Gilda had pointed out, completely bypassing the guard below her, before she headed into the area she was to explore.
Sly and Gilda chuckled as they separated from each other as well, though before they got too far Gilda turned around and knocked out the gangster dog that was blocking Sly's path, that way he wouldn't have to deal with it, before heading to her objective and headed to the area that it was connected to.
Derpy smiled as she rode the elevator to the roof of the building, where the large sign baring Muggshot's name happened to reside, as while she enjoyed exploring an area with her siblings she also enjoyed tackling an area on her own, as it proved that she was as skilled as her brother and sister. When the elevator arrived at it's destination she spotted a domesticated dog resting between her and the large glass container that was in front of her, to which she simply walked out of the way and let the dog chew on it's bone, as it wasn't interested in her at all. Instead of striking the glass with her cane, that either of her siblings might have done in her shoes, she studied the glass and listened to Bentley as he told her that the glass was too hard for a cane to smash through. That was, however, before she looked up towards the sky and spotted a wrecking ball that was located near where she and the case were standing, though when she voiced her opinion Bentley agreed with her plan to use it to get at the imprisoned Treasure Key.
With that decided Derpy explored the area and found a bottle that was resting on a car that happened to be suspended in the air, to which she jumped onto the car, grabbed the bottle, and returned to the roof, where she heard the sound of something detaching and noticed that the suspended car was gone now. She shrugged as she collected the clue in the bottle and continued her exploration, where she collected the two bottles that were on the wall to her right before heading to the back part of this area. Fortunately she found a card throwing guard standing guard over two safes, to which she flew behind him and knocked the guard out, allowing her to open the safes and claim the four clues that were waiting for her, before moving over to the neon sign that she could apparently climb on. She latched onto the tube and used it to climb to the part of the building that was above her, which she could have easily done with her wings, before she collected the bottle that was in front of her and then started climbing on the tubes that spelled out Muggshot's name.
The moment she reached the 's' in Muggshot's name she dropped down into the area below her, as she spotted some clue bottles from above, and gathered the pair that were right under the sign, to which she smiled as she sent the contents over to Bentley as she continued exploring. She then discovered two more suspended cars that happened to have some bottles on them, one a piece, and she carefully collected them and listened as they detached, removing them from her sight and the area as a whole. From there she approached the plank wielding guard from behind and knocked him out, allowing her to grab the pair of bottles that he was guarding, before heading towards a stack of tired and located another clue that was all alone. She then approached a water tower and stared at the hook that was off to the side, where she latched onto it and pulled with all her might, causing eight bottles to pour out into the area in front of her, which were collected immediately... along with the two in the safe that was off to the left of the tower and the other trio that rested on a ledge that she could have used to jump back down into the area she had been in a few minutes ago.
Once Derpy was sure that she got everything from this part of the area, and there weren't any clue bottles on the lower area, she latched onto the sign and continued jumping until she reached the structure that was behind the 't' in Muggshot's name... where she found two more clues off to the side and latched onto the pole at the very top of the structure, which eventually caused it to tip over and smash into a wall, destroying it and opening the way forward.
On the section of the roof that she had discovered she found a chain wielding guard and a plank wielding guard waiting for something to happen, so she knocked them out and claimed the bottle that was between them, before exploring the rest of the area that she was in. She then found a safe being guarding by a card throwing guard, who quickly hit the floor like all the others, and she gathered the pair of clues inside the safe, as well as the one that happened to be resting on another suspended car, though this time she ignored the sound as she moved away from the car. After that she returned to where the front of the one structure had crashed into and climbed the neon tube that she found, which allowed her to access a safe with another pair of clues, before she landed on the walkway that was in front of her. As she started walking forward, and collected the bottle that was in front of her, she heard an intercom come on and knew that Muggshot had a message for someone.
I got a personal message for the two-bit thief who's making off with all my Treasure Keys: you're dead, pally. Muggshot angrily said, revealing that, unlike Raleigh, he knew that someone was already stealing his things and had likely told his guards to be extra careful, or at least those that were guarding the keys and vaults that her siblings were currently going after at the moment, If I get my hands on you, I'm going to fit you with your own pair of cement bunny slippers. You hear me? You're lunchmeat, jerk!
The part about the message that interested Derpy was that Muggshot, like Raleigh, believed that there was one thief in his area, instead of three, to which she chuckled for a moment as she reached the end of the path, though the last part she jumped onto moved forward and smashed through the wall that was in front of her. That, in turn, allowed her to jump down into the area where the controls for the crane were located, as well as take out the card throwing guard that was nearby and claim two more clues, one that was inside the ruined building and one that was on a suspended car. When she realized that she had claimed thirty-nine clues, and still didn't have the code, she climbed up onto the glass tunnel and started to make her way towards her objective... only for her to turn around the moment she got the final clue bottle, as the vault was right behind her.
Once she reached the vault she dialed in the code, 4-6-8, and revealed a sight that annoyed her a tiny bit, as instead of getting a page from the Thievius Raccoonus she found the blueprints for Muggshot's additions to Mesa City... to which she sighed as she left the calling card behind, used the crane to smash into the glass case below her, as well as some other objects in the process, and claimed the Treasure Key. From there she sighed as she climbed back onto the elevator and descended back into the main building, hoping that Sly and Gilda had better luck than she did with their vaults.
Gilda walked out of the passage that she had been in and carefully smashed the window that was in front of her, as there was no way to safely remove it without the entire thing breaking, before she walked outside and found herself in what appeared to be the back alley for the area of the city that she and her siblings were in. She noticed that the path to the Treasure Key was basically a loop around the area, and that she could have easily spread her wings, claim the key, and gotten out of there if she was only interested in the one thing, but she wanted the clues as well. As such she turned to the left and followed the path that was in front of her, which included scaring a domesticated dog with just her eyes before claiming two clues that were behind the ladder that she had to climb up. At the top of the ladder she found that she could jump on the awning that was there, allowing her to get over the sign that Muggshot had set up there and collect the pair of clues from the safe, before using another one to move forward.
Using the awnings allowed her to reach an area with two more of the signs that she would have smashed, if she wasn't a thief, and found a trio of bottles waiting to be collected, though after claiming those she maneuvered herself behind a chain wielding guard and knocked him out, to which she moved forward with ease.
From there it appeared that she would have to jump on an air conditioning unit, destroying it in the process, to get at the clue that was hanging in front of her, but instead of doing that she opened her wings and easily claimed it, though she went a little further and flew up to another chain wielding guard. She knocked the guard out and claimed the pair of bottles that he was guarding, before she climbed back down the ladder and used an awning to bypass a searchlight that was in her way. Fortunately that allowed her to jump up to a walkway that was above a couple of gangster dogs and she turned off the alarm that was up there, though instead of heading back down she climbed the ladder that was in front of her and carefully made her way over the giant dog statues that were up there. Before she actually jumped over the statues, however, she did find a pair of bottles behind her, though as she crossed the path the statues created she found and recovered three more clues before she reached the end of the statues.
After that she encountered a small obstacles course with moving searchlights, to which she moved when the lights weren't near her and paused when they got close to her, before dropping down to the next level until she was on the third level and used the awnings to get over the searchlight and bypass the alarm at the end of the course.
Once she had gotten by the alarm she paused at a pair of awnings that had some rotating clue bottles that appeared to be attached to something, though she took a few seconds and carefully removed the five bottles that were in front of her, before she landed on the other side of a sign and sent the contents to Bentley. Gilda then noticed that there were three bottles resting between jumps in front of her, once more using air conditioners to move forward, so she simply used her wings and did things the easy way. She then landed on the walkway beneath her and moved into the area that a chain wielding guard was in and knocked him out, before collecting the two clues inside the safe and the one that was resting near a wall. After that she jumped up to the floor above her and knocked out the plank wielding guard that actually turned towards the hole she came out of, before grabbing the clue bottle and heading up to the final level of the building she was moving through, where the vault was located.
Fortunately two of the last three clues were near the second hole she jumped through and the final one, what she hoped was the final one, was right in front of the Treasure Key, so she collected it and headed back to the vault that was right behind her. That was followed by Bentley telling her that the code was 5-6-5 and her entering it, where she found the page of the Thievius Raccoonus that talked about Suzanne Cooper's notes on Water Safety, something that might come in handy in the future. With the page in hand, and the calling card left behind, Gilda removed the Treasure Key from the case it was resting in and headed back down to the entrance of this area, though as she did so she had to wonder if Sly had actually run into Carmelita or if they had beaten her to the punch and she never showed up.
Carmelita sighed as she carefully hid herself on the rooftop that she was standing on, as it had taken her some time and effort to actually get around all of the guards that were patrolling Mesa City and get up here, though the only reason she hadn't moved further into Muggshot's territory was because she had seen a key that was trapped in a case. She was sure that Sly Cooper, or either of his sisters, would show up at some point and would likely head towards the key, so she was biding her time until that happened. At the same time she took stock of what had happened back at the Isle of Wrath, as the guards leading up to Raleigh's fortress had been knocked out, bits of his treasure hoard were missing, according to the frog anyway, and all seven of his Treasure Keys were missing, as well as the contents of the safes that he had hidden away throughout the entirety of his fortress.
It had taken her and her fellow police officers a couple of days, and the entirety of their forces, to catalogue what Raleigh had while she filled out the paperwork to ensure he landed in jail, and yet she found no traces of the Cooper Gang being there, save for the calling cards... though her thoughts were interrupted when she heard the sound of some bottles breaking, where she mentally smiled as she revealed herself and found Sly Cooper standing on the building across from where she was standing.
"Well, well, well..." Carmelita said, though at the same time she locked onto her target and held her shock pistol at the ready, because she knew that Sly would take the first opening and flee when he had the chance, "look who just walked into my crosshairs... Sly Cooper!"
"About time you showed up, Ms. Fox." Sly replied, again with the same smile that was always on his face whenever he talked with her, regardless of whether or not his sisters were around to witness what he was doing, "I was getting worried about you. Thought you took a wrong turn somewhere back in Paris."
"The only one making wrong turns is you, Sly." Carmelita stated, though at the same time she made sure that the safety on her weapon was off, as she sensed that the chase was going to start soon, "I'd suggest you surrender before I paralyze you with my good friend, the shock pistol."
"Now see, a girl whose best friend's a firearm's got issues." Sly said, as he knew that Carmelita liked her shock pistol more than the other cops he had encountered over the years, though he was pleased to find that she wasn't getting terribly annoyed at him yet, "A little dinner, a little dancing, I think I can help you out."
"Mmm. Sounds romantic." Carmelita replied, though at the same time she was only stalling, as she had no interests in even dating someone like Sly, while she started to move her shock pistol into position so she could end this before her target moved from where he was standing, "As long as you don't mind dining... in jail!"
"Nah, I hear the service is lousy." Sly commented, as if he was actually planning the 'romantic' encounter that he had been talking about, though out of the corner of his eye he noticed Carmelita's arms moving and knew what was coming his way in the next few seconds.
"Once I catch you, you'll know for yourself!" Carmelita declared, though even as she said that she fired at Sly, who instantly moved out of the way and jumped towards the roof that was near the one he had been standing on the entire time, causing her to move as well.
As Carmelita jumped to the next roof she spotted Sly quickly gathering some sort of green bottle, three that were out in the open and two from a blue safe, though as she fired at him he used some really bouncy mattresses to get him high enough to use the water tower that was near him, while avoiding her shock blasts. Carmelita knew that Sly was hard to hit, as she could perfectly score when she was in the training area, but Sly was faster than what most people gave him credit for and proved to be one step ahead of where she loosed a shock blast to. She aimed at one of the spires that were on the sign that Sly was heading towards, though her blast simply missed because Sly seemed to know that it was the obvious choice and backed off, causing her to shift her gaze as he moved forward.
She then followed Sly as he crossed over a trio of roofs and landed on one that had a clothesline, though as she fired at him he simply jumped up onto the walkway that was above him and headed over the pole that connected the building he was on to the one in front of him. Unfortunately she lost him for a moment, when he slipped into the building that was along whatever path he was following, though since she couldn't go in there, because if she did she knew that she would lose him entirely, Carmelita carefully jumped along the buildings that were around her and made her way to the ruined back of the same building that Sly headed into. A few moments went by before she found Sly dropping down onto a part of the ruined area she was staring at, where she opened fire at him and broke part of the area in the process, though despite that fact Sly kept moving along the path in front of him and she continued to miss.
The two of them made their way across the ruined section of the building, with bits and pieces falling either because of Carmelita's shock blasts or because Sly touched something, before Carmelita landed on a blown up version of Muggshot and aimed at Sly, only for the connection between her ground and the buildings to break, causing her to drift higher than the buildings as she growled. She would get Sly soon enough, she knew that much, though she had the feeling that he and his sisters wouldn't be in Mesa City when she and her fellow cops came to bust them later... though Sly did smile and wave at her as he claimed the key, before he left the area.
Sly quickly made his way back to the entrance of the area that he was in, where he was fortunate to find an actual pathway that wasn't ruined, before he entered the main building and found his sisters standing near the secret elevator, who were holding the Treasure Keys they had grabbed. He smiled as he headed down to the area that his sisters were standing in and watched as they smiled as well, though they were all focused on the task at hand and the person they would be fighting soon enough.
"I see you found the other keys," Sly commented, though at the same time Gilda and Derpy gave him the keys they had acquired, given them enough to open the lever for the secret elevator, "what pages did you two find?"
"I picked up the notes of Water Safety," Gilda replied, also handing over the page in question, before patting an unhappy Derpy for a few seconds, which let Sly know what happened, "unfortunately Derpy ended up finding Muggshot's blueprints for his additions, and she's not happy about that."
"Well, I picked up the Thief Replica technique," Sly stated, though once he said that he moved down to where the locks were located and unlocked them, before pulling the lever and revealing the elevator that Bentley had pointed out to them earlier, where all of them smiled for a moment, "It's time we paid Muggshot a visit and improve our moods."
Sly, Gilda, and Derpy walked into the elevator that was in front of them and let it carry them up to the penthouse, where they were sure Muggshot was resting at that very moment, though at the same time they prepared themselves for a fight, especially since he wasn't going to be happy to see them. When the elevator came to a stop the siblings emerged from the shaft and headed down the stairs that were in front of them, where they found a number of mirrors resting in the area between them and the throne that Muggshot happened to be sitting on.
"What? My boys have been yapping about some mysterious group running around cracking skulls and, and this is it?!" Muggshot said, though his tone indicated that he couldn't believed that the trio was what his guards, ones they must have missed in the various areas, had told him about, "You three are the monkey wrench in my operation? Some scrawny rats with some sticks... wait a second... I've seen that stick before."
"Maybe when our father knocked your block off with it." Sly replied in kind, as he was sure that their father had hit the big dog with the cane that later became Sly's, as well as the inspiration for Gilda and Derpy's canes.
"Your father? Wow, you're all Coopers?" Muggshot inquired, as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing, though at the same time the trio knew that something was coming and prepared for whatever that something happened to be, "You know, that Thingus Raccamagoocus had a lot of nice pictures but way too many big words."
"So you don't mind just handing it over." Derpy said, as she was hoping that Muggshot, who didn't seem to care about the pages he had taken at all, would simply hand them over and they could figure out where the next member of the Fiendish Five was located.
"What are you kidding?" Muggshot angrily said, though his tone indicated that he was annoyed with them, confirming that they would be in for a fight, just like with Raleigh earlier, "You break into my place, steal my stuff, trash the joint, I feel transgressed and violated. Let's rock!"
Muggshot walked down from the throne he was sitting on and raised his pair of guns, the ones they had read about in his file, before he fired into the air as nine crystals erupted from the floor around them, oddly enough eight of them were in front of the eight mirrors. Gilda and Derpy, knowing that Muggshot would start firing soon enough, opened their wings and took to the skies, where they found that Muggshot was actually aiming at them and not Sly, deeming them the more dangerous targets instead of their brother. At first they ignored the mirrors, thinking that the obvious choice was be a trap of some kind, but as they smacked their foe with both of their canes they discovered that Muggshot wasn't bothered by their attacks, causing Sly to nod his head as he realized what they needed to do. While Gilda and Derpy flew through the air, narrowly avoiding the bullets that Muggshot was firing at them, Sly moved around the area and rotated the mirrors into place... where the focused light caused his pair of guns to overheat, to which he angrily marched over to the elevator behind him and went to the floor above him.
When the siblings reached the next floor they found that Muggshot was now aiming at Sly, no doubt figuring that he was the real opponent he needed to take care of, though in the end that was the wrong thing to think about, as while his attention was on Sly both Gilda and Derpy flew around the area and rotated the mirrors into position. From there Muggshot moved to the chandelier and picked up his third, and last, pair of guns as the siblings used the elevator to catch up with him. This time around he tried to fire at all three of them, but with only two guns and the sisters flying around the air, while Sly used the Ninja Spire Jump to move around the chandelier, he found that he couldn't effectively target any of them... allowing the siblings to rotate the final set of mirrors into position and overheat his guns, while at the same time causing him to collapse on the chandelier.
"This is impossible!" Muggshot declared, though at the same time he stared up at the trio as they gathered around him, as they knew he would say something about their next target, "A group of pipsqueaks like you beating a big strong bruiser like me? It ain't right! You want all of that stupid picture book, you're gonna to have to go down to Haiti and cross paths with Mz. Ruby. And then believe you me, you don't want to be you!"
Gilda and Derpy carried Sly down to the first floor of the penthouse and found Muggshot's safe behind the throne that he had been sitting on, where the group smiled as they found the pages detailing Tennessee Kid Cooper's Rail Walk and Rail Slide techniques... though with the location of Mz. Ruby's base in mind the trio departed from Mesa City, where their smiles remained as they noticed Carmelita and her forces heading into the city, meaning that soon the city would be freed from what Muggshot did to it and it's people.
After defeating Muggshot, and claiming his portion of the Thievius Raccoonus, Gilda and Derpy carried Sly through the air as they searched for where Murray parked the van, as there was a chance he could have moved it since he went racing and claimed a Treasure Key earlier, but fortunately he happened to be in the same place. Once they joined back up with their friends Murray turned the engine on and moved them away from Mesa City, allowing Carmelita the time to lock up Muggshot and his goons and begin the necessary paperwork. Sly, Gilda, and Derpy spent a few hours memorizing the new pages of the Thievius Raccoonus, though when Bentley and Murray found a good place for them to practice their skills in peace they took the chance. The techniques they really committed to memory was Tennessee Kid Cooper's Rail Walk and Rail Slide, as when they picked up Rioichi's Ninja Spire Jump technique from Raleigh's safe it proved to be the one they needed for Muggshot's base... so, by that logic, Tennessee Kid Cooper's techniques would be the key to getting inside Mz. Ruby's base in Haiti.
Once they had a decent grasp of the Rail Walk and Rail Slide techniques, as well as the other ones that they had acquired from Mesa City, the siblings returned to the van and Murray drove off into the distance, making sure to put some distance between them and where Carmelita's forces were located.
The five of them decided to relax for a few days and made their way to Hollywood, where they did some sightseeing as normal tourists, and even dressed up in such a manner so no one would be able to figure out that they were members of the Cooper Gang. During their time in that area Sly decided to make off with the golden stars from the Walk of Fame, which would end up being sold at some point in the future, before they went somewhere else in the city and relaxed, since their next target was going to be tougher than Muggshot. Gilda and Derpy, on the other hand, decided that the beach was the best place for them to really unwind before they went to Haiti and began the search for Mz. Ruby, as there had to be some truth to Muggshot's parting words. During their stay in Hollywood they found a newspaper that detailed Carmelita busting Muggshot, saving Mesa City in the process, and mentioning that she had missed a mysterious group of figures in the process, which had to be the three of them... though they simply chuckled as they folded the newspaper away and returned to what they had been doing a few seconds ago.
When the three of them were well rested, and so were both Bentley and Murray, the group headed back to the van and began the trip to Haiti, though while they did that Sly pulled out the police file they had grabbed and turned the page to the information on Mz. Ruby. According to what he and his sisters read Mz. Ruby had been born into a family of mystics, something they really didn't have experience with at the moment, and that the other children shunned her because they found her to be scary, though it didn't help that she apparently showed the kids dead creatures when she first met them. Of course their opinions on Mz. Ruby instantly changed when they discovered that she had taught herself how to summon the undead, providing her with the new friends she had when she was a young kid, which meant they really had to be careful around her. From that point it was a collection of what was known about the adult Mz. Ruby's actions, revealing that she was the chief mystic for the Fiendish Five and that her powers allowed them to break the laws of man and nature at the same time... and that, despite her success, she managed to slip into obscurity as she vanished into the Haitian jungle.
Sly and his sisters glanced at each other as Murray drove them to the area that Bentley was directing him to, because it appeared that Mz. Ruby was going to be even stranger and tougher than either Raleigh and Muggshot, in her own way, and that they needed to be careful when they entered her base... because there was no telling what sort of dangers awaited them this time around.
A few days later Murray finally arrived at the outskirts of Mz. Ruby's base of operations, where he spun the van around and pointed the back at the path, allowing Sly, Gilda, and Derpy to climb out and touch the ground that was in front of them, though this time they closed the back of the van the instant they were outside.
"So, considering that Mz. Ruby had problems with people in the past, what sort of enemies do you think we'll be facing this time around?" Derpy asked, as she recalled that Raleigh's guards had been mostly sea based and Muggshot's had all been gangsters or criminals, making her wonder what they were up against.
"I guess the undead... and potentially the creatures of the swamp itself," Gilda replied, though at the same time she knew that all three of them didn't know what to think about the fact that their next target could summon the undead and break the laws of both man and nature, as they didn't have something to counter that.
"Bentley, surely you don't believe what's in Mz. Ruby's file?" Sly asked, as before they moved forward, and left the van behind, he wanted one more opinion on what they would be facing, because he was sure that this was going to be a tough adventure for all of them, even if Bentley and Murray were safe in the van.
"Sure I do. My scanners have picked up verifiable paranormal activity." Bentley stated, revealing that there was more out there than what they originally knew, something that they would be encountering in the near future apparently, to which Sly sighed for a moment, "Sly, just be careful while you three explore Mz. Ruby's base... I have the uneasy feeling that your target already knows we're here."
Sly seriously hoped that Mz. Ruby had no idea that he, Gilda, and Derpy were here, but based on what they had read about in her file, and the supposed feats that her 'magic' had done, he had the feeling that Bentley might be right, which made him turn away as he joined his sisters. Of course, before they actually moved forward, all three of them noticed a rather large mosquito patrolling the area in front of them, though instead of saying anything they knew that Mz. Ruby was either behind this mutation, or it was natural and never before documented. The siblings crossed over the lily pad that was in front of them, collecting the clue bottle that was resting on it, before they reached the area the mosquito was in, to which they slammed their canes into it and knocked it into the water around them. At the end of the area that the mosquito had been in they found a vine that was perfect for using the Rail Walk technique, to which they took turns walking across it and jumped to the next platform that had a large mystical statue... as well as two more clue bottles and a vine that allowed them to use the Rail Slide to move forward.
At the end of the vine they jumped off and landed on a large branch of a tree, with a large enough area for them to land on and a bottle resting to their left, before jumping off of that and landed on the second branch in front of them, where they fought off the large black spider that wanted to block their way. From there they used a trio of vines, separated and yet headed to the same location, to reach another branch that was closer to the water, though Derpy, who brought up the rear, jumped off earlier and claimed two more bottles before joining her siblings, who had fought off two spiders so they could access the area in front of them. After that they found a trio of mosquitoes that were patrolling the area between them and the bounce pad that was behind them, to which the siblings rushed forward and fought off all of the mosquitoes before they accessed the vine that was above them... and claimed the bottle that happened to be attached to it with a rope.
From there they used the vines to slide through the area, accessing some bounce pads along the way, before they reached a wooden vine that they had to walk along, where they smashed their way through the spiders that were in front of them before they reached a tunnel that headed towards the area above them.
That was when they learned that there were more creatures than spiders and mosquitoes they had to worry about, as when they collected the two bottles that were in the tunnel the creature at the end of the tunnel came to life, revealing a wooden creature that angrily stared at them and it rushed them. Despite the fact that they were caught off guard the trio discovered something interesting, the wooden creature appeared to be extremely brittle, as a swing from each of their canes was enough to shatter it into a thousand pieces, opening the way forward. At the end of the tunnel they found another clue bottle, which they collected, before they jumped onto the vines and walked around the path that they had formed. That brought them to the top of the structure that the tunnel was built under, where they found two more of the wooden creatures that wanted them dead, to which the trio carefully smashed their way through the wooden creatures and cleared the area... allowing them to claim the bottle that was resting in a dead tree and a trio of them that rested off to their left.
Once they had the bottles in the area they jumped onto the branch that was at the end of the area and discovered a gate like structure in front of them, one that had some actually people patrolling the area, to which they carefully jumped down into the area that was below where they were standing... where they spotted an actual person, a skinny rat that was wearing a voodoo mask and carried a voodoo staff, guarding the gate. Fortunately there appeared to be a way around the voodoo guard, as they had to climb up onto the walkway and silently inch their way across the path, though as Sly and Gilda did that Derpy claimed the clue bottle to her right before joining her siblings, who knocked out the guard before they stared at the actual entrance to Mz. Ruby's lair... after claiming the clue that the guard had been protecting.
"It would appear that Mz. Ruby is more clever about where she's stored her Treasure Keys," Bentley commented, to which the siblings used their binocucoms and stared at the same in front of them, while at the same time listening to what their friend had to tell them, "more than Raleigh and Muggshot were. From the looks of things it appears that the key you need, in order to open the main gate to her base, is being protected by a mad mojo force field, which is being powered by five candles. Fortunately, according to my research, these are hard to make at range and the candles will be close by, meaning that you should be able to get the key if you smash the candles and disrupt the magical energies that they are channeling at the moment."
"One Treasure Key coming right up." Gilda said, though this time around she turned towards Derpy and shook her head, indicating that flying should only be used if the guards noticed them at some point, before the three of them walked down into the area before them.
Sly carefully maneuvered himself around the area, like Gilda and Derpy were doing, and ignored the bottles that were around him, because he was sure that the noise might alert the voodoo guards, though he knocked out the guards that he came across. While he did that he noticed his sisters doing the same thing, as their guards fell to the floor as well, before he smashed the candles that were near him and gathered the clue bottles that were near him, where he noticed that the remaining four bottles for this area, according to what Bentley said anyway, were all around them. Once they had all of the clue bottles the three of them gathered near the Treasure Key and grabbed it, before carefully making their way towards the vault that was off on the right side of this area. Sly then approached the tumblers and listened as Bentley informed him that the code was 5-8-8, which allowed him to open the vault and recovered Kelle McCooper's notes on how to harnessing the electromagnetic field to create a barrier of sorts around them when they rolled, though that turned the Raccoon Roll into an offensive technique if they used it in such a matter.
From there they approached the main gate and unlocked it, allowing them to enter the main hub of Mz. Ruby's base of operations, though as they walked into the area, and took in the sights around them, what drew their attention was the massive skull shaped structure, made out of twisted wood, off in the distance... though as they stared at the are that Mz. Ruby was in both Gilda and Derpy shuddered for a moment, but they had no idea why they did that.
"It looks like we're going to have to go through that Skull Temple to get to Mz. Ruby," Sly commented, to which he made sure that they were connected to Bentley for a moment, whose readings no doubt confirmed that their target was in the massive structure, "Bentley, have you found the areas that the other Treasure Keys are resting in?"
"Yes, and I have projected the markers for all three of you." Bentley replied, letting them know that it was time for them to get their operation underway, especially since they were going to have to split up to get all the keys in this part of the base, before they were allowed to move forward.
Sly nodded as he lowered his binocucom, as he and his sisters were more than ready to deal with everything that Mz. Ruby had built into the area that was her base, so she could keep the Treasure Keys safe, and they all knew that this was going to be an interesting experience... especially since they never encountered someone like Mz. Ruby before today.
The first thing that the siblings did, before walking out into the open area that was sure to trigger Mz. Ruby's message to her guards, was carefully study the areas that they needed to progress through, for the Treasure Keys and any vaults that might have been hidden away inside those areas. From what Gilda could see they had three places to pick from, which made sense considering that each of the Fiendish Five seemed to have seven Treasure Keys on hand, though from what she could determine at a glance one area lead to a lake or river, the second seemed to go off into an area the locked gate was attached to, and the third only had some stones around it, so it was hard to tell what that one was. She then wondered how best they could divide the labor in this area, as she knew it was best to split up and tackle them at the same time, but with their limited experience in dealing with magical enemies, which was going to be normal in this area, it was hard to say what they should do and what they shouldn't do.
"This is going to be interesting and difficult at the same time," Gilda commented, causing Sly and Derpy to glance over at her, as they were trying to figure out a good way to divide the tasks between them, especially since they had no idea what each of the areas actually contained, "So, do either of you have an idea of how we should tackle this area?"
"Well, I think you should take on the area to our right," Derpy replied, beckoning to the area in question, which meant that Gilda was likely going to come into contact with whatever was on the other side of the locked gate, "Personally, I'd like to take the area that the one voodoo guard in guarding, the one with the wooden fence near him..."
"...and that leaves me to take on whatever the bone pipe leads to," Sly finished, though at the same time he shuddered, because so far Mz. Ruby wasn't presenting herself as a likeable person, not when all of her guards were voodoo practitioners and she had things made out of bone.
Before they dispersed, however, Gilda looked at Derpy and knew what her sister was thinking about, that the area she was going to go through was likely going to have the blueprints for Mz. Ruby's base and it was going to annoy her a little that she was always finding them... to which she sighed and rested her hand on Derpy's shoulder, knowing that if she was right her sister would be happy and if she was wrong Derpy would be more annoyed.
"Actually, why don't I take on the area you were looking at and you can have the one I was planning on tackling?" Gilda asked, as she knew that it didn't matter as long as they got all the Treasure Keys, though if the blueprints were in the area Derpy wanted to tackle she was doing her a favor by heading there instead.
"It's fine, I can tackle whatever is waiting in that area," Derpy replied, as she knew that Gilda wanted to prevent her from finding the blueprints for the third base of operations, but at this point in time she honestly didn't care, as she was a thief and she would take whatever was inside the vault.
Gilda was a little surprised by Derpy's decision, but she knew that her sister must have guessed why she was offering to change targets, to which she chuckled for a moment before the three of them used the Rail Slide technique to make their way over to the strange fountain that was in the middle of the first area... though as they arrived, however, the intercom came on and Mz. Ruby started talking, causing them to remain silent as they listened to her plans.
Wake up, you lazy bags of swamp gas! Mz. Ruby declared, revealing that she had seen some of her guards sleeping and was waking them up, meaning that part of their mission here had become slightly more difficult, before they listened to the rest of her message, The voodoo vibe is thick tonight. Let's take advantage of this powerful mojo and step up production. Keep piling those shiny bones into the soup. We'll have an army of ghosts by morning and take over Mexico by the end of the week. Hear that voodoo, children? Our family is about to grow, grow, grow!
"Okay, she's gone off the deep end." Sly commented, as it was one thing to set up a storm machine and sink ships or take over a city with an army of gangsters, but conquering an entire country was another thing all on it's own, which meant they needed to work fast, "We need to move fast and efficiently from this point forward, because we cannot allow Mz. Ruby to succeed with her plans of conquering Mexico."
Gilda and Derpy nodded, as it appeared that their new target had come unglued and was now using her powers for something truly devastating, to which the siblings separated from each other and headed to the areas that they would be working their way through. Gilda easily made her way to the gated area that Derpy had picked out for her, ignoring the bounce pad on the lower level and used her wings to reach her destination, though as she landed she turned around and observed her siblings for a few seconds. Sly carefully made his way along the bone pole that would take him to the area he was left to explore, where she saw him knock out the guard that was guarding the entrance, before he disappeared into the area and started exploring whatever was on the other side. Derpy, on the other hand, followed Gilda's example and used her wings to get up to the area she wanted to explore, where she knocked out the guard that was guarding the fence and waved at Gilda for a few seconds... before she turned around and headed into the area she wanted to explore.
Gilda waited a few seconds, to see if either of her siblings said anything to her over the binocucom, before she sighed and headed into the area that was behind her, though as she delved into the tunnel that was before her she could only wonder what sort of horrors she was going to find on the other side.
As Gilda emerged from the other side of the tunnel, however, she gazed up at the metal gate that was in front of her and noticed that it was attached to some walls like an enclosure of some kind, almost as if Mz. Ruby had actually gone out of her way to move something that was native to this swamp and trap in inside a holding cell. The only reason she even considered that fact was that she could see some sort of seal on the door in front of her, one that almost seemed magical in nature, that was directing the power inward. Even though she wondered how she could see the magical seal on the gate, as neither she, Sly, or Derpy had any powers like Mz. Ruby did, she still pulled out her binocucom and studied the area that she could see at the moment, as it would be better than going in blind and she could get a second opinion from Bentley, since he knew more about this than the siblings did.
"What's with this industrial-strength voodoo gate?" Bentley asked, though his tone indicated that he might not know anything about the situation, meaning that Gilda was on her own this time around, "Mz. Ruby must really be trying to keep something out."
"No, it's designed to keep something in." Gilda replied, though even as she said that she knew that Bentley was going to question her on how she knew that, something that she wasn't completely sure about since she had no idea what the rules of magic even were.
"How can you be sure?" Bentley inquired, indicating that he was interested in what Gilda had to say, even if she didn't have a good explanation for why she was able to be so sure in her thoughts.
"Well, this is going to sound strange, but I can see the seal on the gate," Gilda said, as she stared up at the glowing seal and wondered how she could even see it, but at the same time she decided that she would think about it after she got the vault and the Treasure Key, "and I can tell that the magic is being directed inward. This is a cell... and I'm going to have to head in there for the vault and the Treasure Key."
As Gilda lowered her binocucom she knew that the easiest and safest route to take was to open her wings, fly over the top of the gate, and search for the clue bottles and the location of the Treasure Key, though while she knew that Sly would frown at her for taking the easy way out she would rather risk him being upset than dealing with whatever was inside this cage. Still, since she needed all the clue bottles to unlock the vault, she guessed that she could follow the path to the best of her ability, collecting bottles as she went, so she would be able to open the vault at the very end, to which she smashed the trio of bottles on her left and sent Bentley the contents before she really got moving. She followed the path that the vines created and soon came to a side area that contained seven clue bottles, rivaling what Derpy found in one area of that roof area she explored on her own, and made sure she sent Bentley everything that was in front of her. She then carefully flew along the path and smashed through three more bottles as she came to a tree that several spiders dropped down from... which she simply avoided by flying to the backside of the small island that the large tree was growing on.
She soon found the path heading upward and took the bottle that was hanging on a rope, before she flew over the hook points that were in front of her and neared the water for a few seconds, where she watched the reeds move as she reached a second small island with another large tree. That confirmed that there was something inside the cage, making her wonder what that something was as she moved around the the other side of the island and collected the trio of bottles that were there. From that point she headed up the side of the tree and collected the bottle that was along the path, though when she reached the branch at the top she found another trio of bottles and made sure Bentley had all the new clues she had found. After that she followed the vine and gathered another pair of bottles, before she landed in front of the root system for a large overturned tree, where two bottles were resting, though as she hovered over the path that she would have to fly along, however, she heard a roar behind her and turned around... where she found a rather large snake, looking like it wanted to eat her whole, coming her way, to which she turned in the opposite direction and flew away from the large serpent.
Gilda had known that there was something inside this cage, and Bentley had even confirmed it, but she was not interested in becoming a snack and flew away from the serpent as it tried to eat her... before she reached the area the Treasure Key was in, where the snake gave up and returned to the water. From there she found the vault and got the code from Bentley, which happened to be 4-4-4, and discovered Bruce O'Coop's Computer Hacking technique, meaning that Bentley could hack into the roster of each hideout and give them data on each guard. She wasn't sure how useful that was going to be in the long run, but it was a good thing to have, so she put the calling card in place and grabbed the Treasure Key, before flying out of the area and leaving the large serpent to it's business.
"I hope Sly and Derpy are having better luck than I did." Gilda commented, though at the same time she made sure that the Treasure Key and the page from the Thievius Raccoonus were tucked away safely inside her pack, though once she confirmed that they were she landed in front of the cage and headed out to where her siblings would be waiting for her once they finished their areas.
Derpy found herself in the truck of a fallen tree, which appeared to have been turned into smaller pieces by the looks of things, and carefully removed the roots that were in front of her, revealing a vine she could Rail Slide down to reach the area below her. As she thought about that, however, a ghostly panther materialized in the air before she and rushed at her, to which she swung her cane and knocked the ghost to the side where it promptly disappeared, but she had the feeling that it would be back soon enough. That didn't stop her from shivering for a moment, because it was one thing to know that Mz. Ruby called the dead back to this world and another thing to see the ghosts with her own eyes, but she braced herself and put on a brave face, because if she and the others could overcome things together, like Muggshot, then surely she could get through an area that might be infested by ghosts and other things.
After she steeled herself Derpy jumped onto the vine and started to slide along it, where she paused halfway through it to grab a clue, before she reached the bottom area and engaged one of those wooden creatures that she and her siblings had encountered when they were approaching Mz. Ruby's base. Fortunately the ones inside the base seemed to be just as brittle and as easy to destroy as the ones outside the base, as a few wacks of her cane was enough to dismantle the creature and reduce it to a pile of wooden parts. From there she made her way through some more roots and fought off the trio of ghosts that were in front of her, until she eventually smashed a headstone that happened to be in front of her, silencing the ghosts in the process. She then realized that the ghosts in the area had to be tied to these headstones, like a ghost generator of some kind, and knew what she had to do next, she had to smash all of the generators she came across and free the spirits that were no doubt trapped in this state against their will... as she was sure that none of them had willingly joined Mz. Ruby's plan to conquer Mexico, and whatever else she had planned after that.
Once she reached that decision she moved forward and engaged a second wooden creature that was guarding a trio of clues, which she collected and sent to Bentley as she use the hook in front of her to cross the gap and bypassed the roots that were blocking her way. She then had to contend with a mosquito that was guarding a safe, and grabbed the two bottles inside it, before having to deal with yet another wooden creature in front of what appeared to be an entrance to a large area. Along the way she smashed two more bottles and approached the structure, though as she smashed her way through the two root walls in front of her she happened to find one more clue before she smashed the headstone generator that was in front of her... before she laid eyes on the structure that was apparently the heart of this entire area, though what it was used for she had absolutely no idea, especially since magic was a foreign thing to her.
She noticed the spires that she could use the Ninja Spire Jump on, to get down into the area below her, and knew that her wings could do the same thing in a quicker manner since she wouldn't have to worry about flames, but she simply used the technique she had learned and soon enough she was on the platform that would allow her to move onward.
Had she noticed the three headstone generators ahead of time she would have spread her wings and smashed them from the skies, like Gilda might have done, but since she was already on the ground she braced herself as waves of ghosts started to emerge from the headstones and came at her. Derpy, of course, decided to ignore any possible clues in the immediate area and focused solely on demolishing the cursed headstones, though as one fell the other two seemed to be empowered a little, increasing the number of ghosts they churned out. She then smashed through the second headstone and turned towards the third one, where she outmaneuvered the ghosts and demolished the stone, allowing the ghosts to depart for whatever realm they had been snatched from. Once that was done she carefully collected the trio of clues she had ignored and then broke the candles that were powering the force field in front of her, allowing her to explore the rest of the structure as she made her way to the top of the area.
On the left of where the force field had been located she found that she had to crawl around the edge of a spire to reach the four clues and the two in a safe that were hiding over there, though that was when she decided to change things up and used her wings to move around the area. Once those six clues were collected, and their contents sent to Bentley, Derpy returned to the middle of the structure and headed in the other direction, carefully avoiding the alarm lasers that had been installed in the area before heading to the upper area and disabling the alarm itself. After that she landed on the wooden chandelier that was hanging above the area and gathered two more clues before heading towards the hole in the wall that a wooden creature was guarding, before she smashed through it and appeared on the area above the entrance to the structure she had finished off.
To the right of the end of the short tunnel she found a mosquito guarding a clue bottle, which she recovered after beating the insect over the head, before she carefully crossed the three spires in front of her and collected two more clues on the other walkway. She then spotted a headstone generator in the area between her and the route she needed to take so she could reach the Treasure Key, so she opened her wings and bypassed the ghosts entirely, freeing them from Mz. Ruby's control. After that she smashed three more clues that were near the headstone and spotted three resting above the entrance she had walked through earlier, before landing on an area where three mosquitoes were patrolling, which she easily removed before collecting the pair of bottles in the nearby safe. As she used the Rail Walk to get to the next walkway, however, she spotted a clue hanging near the routes behind her, though she focused on smashing the headstone in front of her before heading back and collecting the bottle.
After that she continued the path up to a mosquito, also guarding a clue bottle, and Derpy took care of it with ease as she grabbed the bottle, before turning towards the vine in front of her and carefully grabbed the two bottles to her right before she crossed over the vine, where she had to smash her way through some ghosts to get at the pair of headstones at the other end of the vine. Once she was on the other side of the vine she spotted a bottle behind where the Treasure Key was located and noticed two more safes behind a root wall, where she collected all of them and made sure Bentley had a few moments to decipher the clues she had sent him. After a few minutes had passed she knelt in front of the tumblers and input the code, this time being 1-2-8, and discovered the blueprints for Mz. Ruby's base, though instead of being upset Derpy simply stashed the page away, left the calling card, and collected the Treasure Key from where it was resting.
Once she had the Treasure Key she headed for the exit and silently hoped that her siblings had managed to get their keys without too much effort, or having to do anything like fight their way through an army of ghosts to get anywhere near the end of their area.
Sly sighed as he walked through the end of the tunnel he had gone through, because it appeared that he had gotten what was likely the simplest task this time around, as all he had to do was light some torches and claim the key, or at least he thought that was what he needed to do here. Since he had no idea what he was looking at, as this was the first time lighting something to get at the prize had even come up, he decided to lift his binocucoms and see if Bentley had anything to say before he got to work. Besides, that gave him the opportunity to stare at the voodoo gate that was blocking his way to the Treasure Key for a few seconds before he connected to Bentley once more.
"Sly, the only way to open up that voodoo gate is by lighting all twenty-ive tiki torches in the area," Bently told him, to which he glanced down at the device that was in front of him, which appeared to be the tool he needed to use this time around, "I managed to put this skiff together and outfitted it with a flamethrower, though since I was unable to get an actual fuel source you'll have to run over the piranha you see swimming around to get the fuel. And, not to add some additional pressure to the situation, but since you're close to the cage that Gilda found a large serpent in I would guess that you have only two minutes to get all the torches lit!"
Sly sighed as she jumped onto the skiff and moved out into the open water that was around him, where he carefully selected groups of piranha that hadn't started moving and ran over the fish that he could, though when his systems indicated that he had a full tank he approached the torches and used the flamethrower to light them. Once the tanks were empty he started the process all over again, carefully making sure that he was efficient with his time since the noise from his skiff was likely to draw that large serpent to this area. While he raced through the area he had to wonder if Gilda would be willing to share the story of her encounter with the serpent, though at the same time he made sure to continue lighting all of the torches that he could. As he worked he could hear the sound of the water moving, and not from the piranha, so he gathered the last of the fish that he needed, lit the remaining torches, and shattered the seal on the gate, allowing him to claim the Treasure Key before he vacated the area... though while he was inside the tunnel he had come from he caught a glimpse of the serpent moving under the water and knew how close he had come to being eaten.
He gulped and headed back through the tunnel, returning to the part of the base he had last seen his sisters in and returned to the fountain, where he was joined by Gilda a few seconds later, though she didn't seem too bothered by the giant serpent she had seen earlier.
"So, what did you find?" Sly asked, though at the same time he held out his Treasure Key, indicating that he had completed his task, before he thought of something else to say, "And I mean besides the large serpent that Bentley warned me about when I was in my area."
"Bruce O'Coop's Computer Hacking technique." Gilda replied, to which she handed over the page in question, which Sly added to the others, before adding her Treasure Key to the collection Sly was holding onto, "now we can get guard information when we use our binocucoms and look at a guard."
Sly was sure that such a technique would come in handy in the future, where they were planning operations that didn't revolve around the Fiendish Five, though he also said nothing about the serpent, because he didn't want to bother his sister about it. Fortunately the two of them didn't have to wait too long, as Derpy soon returned to where they were standing and revealed the blueprints of Mz. Ruby's base, along with the fact that she wasn't annoyed about the fact that she found another set for another member of their targets. With the four keys in hand, however, they approached the locked gate and unlocked the locks, where the large serpent from Gilda's area surged out of the opening, smashed through a gate that would have prevented them from moving forward, and circled back to the gate, where it closed the gate behind it and apparently didn't care for any of them.
"Well, I'm happy I didn't take your area," Derpy said, as she was extremely happy with her decision to stick to the area that had been infested by ghosts and not a giant snake that could have eaten her whole, "because that thing freaked me out the moment I laid eyes on it."
"Well, it opened a new area of the swamp for us to explore," Sly commented, though at the same time he and Gilda rested a hand on Derpy's shoulders, letting her know that there was nothing for her to be afraid of, if she was even afraid of the serpent anyway, "Watch out Mz. Ruby, the Cooper Clan is coming for you."
Gilda and Derpy nodded, because soon they would have all of Mz. Ruby's Treasure Keys and the path to her would be open for them, so they could knock her out so Carmelita could arrest her when she arrived, and they knew she was coming after them, before recovering her section of the Thievius Raccoonus... and then see if she knew where the fourth member of the Fiendish Five had his base of operations.
With the way open to the other part of Mz. Ruby's base of operations Sly, Gilda, and Derpy headed through the ruined gate and carefully approached the area that was right in front of them, which happened to look like a massive cauldron, the majority sunk into the depths of the swamp with part of the top sticking out. The siblings took a few moments to take in what they were seeing, since there were voodoo guards standing on the walkway that had been built on the top of the cauldron and they were either looking for intruders or were tossing in more bones into the mix. This reflected what they had heard Mz. Ruby tell her guards earlier, about stepping up production and the like, but even as they stared at the sight in front of them the trio noticed that there were large voodoo masks that helped stir the mixture around the cauldron, which also cast large shadows.
The siblings looked at each other for a few seconds, not really knowing what to make of what was in front of them, before they sighed and pulled out their binocucoms, as Bentley would have something to tell them before they determined what to do next.
"This looks like some sort of giant voodoo egg beater," Bentley commented, though at the same time the binocucoms zeroed in on the Treasure Key locks that were attached to the lid above where the guards were standing, revealing what they needed to do next, "and, at best guess, it looks like the entire thing runs on steam."
"If we can get the other Treasure Keys, we can unlock that lid," Derpy said, her gaze locked on the locks that were above the guards, indicating that she was thinking of something that might help them all our, "besides thrashing their production, we might be able to build enough pressure to launch Sly up to Mz. Ruby's Skull Temple."
"That sounds like an excellent plan." Sly stated, though he was surprised that it was Derpy that came up with the plan this time around, as that was usually Bentley's job when he had enough information, but he said nothing as he focused on what was in front of them, "Well then, we should move in the shadows of those voodoo masks and search the other parts of Mz. Ruby's base for the remaining Treasure Keys."
Gilda and Derpy nodded as all three of them put their binocucoms away and jumped onto the vine that was in front of them, one at a time anyway, and carefully moved in the shadows of the large masks as they approached the first area they could pick from. That appeared to be the entrance of a smaller temple or something, designed to mimic a turtle based on what they were seeing, before they jumped back onto the vine and headed towards the other marker that Bentley had set up for them. That marker happened to have some sort of blasting device, that floated just off the ground by the looks of things, and had a jump pad near it, which brought them up to an entrance where some chickens could be heard clucking from where they were standing. The siblings immediately decided what to do, as Sly determined that the smaller temple was his to claim this time around, since his sisters had picked their areas before he did in the other half of the base, and Derpy stated that she wanted to see what the floating device was, leaving Gilda with the building in front of them... who sighed and simply nodded her head, indicating that she was fine with this happening, especially after what they did to Sly earlier.
With that determined Sly was grabbed by Derpy and was dropped off at the entrance of his marker before she headed towards the device, though he noticed Gilda smashing a voodoo force field before turning around and headed into the depths of his area.
A few moments later, when he arrived in his chosen area, he immediately moved through the root wall that was in front of him and collected three clues that were off to his right, before using the short vine in front of him to jump onto the platform that was floating on the water in front of him. At the same time Bentley seemed to notice the waterfall on his left, the green waterfall that appeared to be overflowing with bone and body parts, though instead of gagging he turned away from it and put the waterfall out of his mind. From there he latched onto the bone pole that was in front of him and moved under the platform one of the voodoo guards was walking on, though he had to wait for a few seconds before jumping to the second bone pole and continuing onward. When he reached the end of the second pole he jumped onto the small patch of land in front of him and then jumped onto the walkway that he had been crawling under, where he knocked out the guard and claimed the clue that was behind him.
With that clue in hand he turned around and returned to the small patch of land and grabbed the clues inside the safe that he discovered, before he started jumping over the floating platforms that were in front of him, which required that he avoid the flaming skulls that the large skeletal creature in the distance was throwing at him. As it turned out there was a candle he had to smash so the walkway to the large skeletal turtle could open, though once that was done he headed towards his opponent and noticed that it cowered when he neared it. Since it was basically a reanimated corpse, the mere thought of that freaking him out more than he was willing to admit, Sly struck the skeletal creature with all his might and let it fall apart, allowing him to grab two more clues before using the bone poles to get around the statue in front of him and climbed up to the level above him.
The bone poles brought him to the outstretched arm of the statue, where he had to remove a spider that was blocking his path, before using the hook points to descend towards the stone pathway in front of him, which also had planks between each section. He walked over the planks on his immediate right and found a clue waiting for him, along with the fact that the wooden walkway fell into the water below him, meaning that he had to be careful and would have to jump over the gaps that existed between the stone sections. As such Sly headed over to the left side of the area that he had landed on and smashed three more clues before heading forward, where he found two more clues near the very end of the pathway he was navigating. After that he carefully made his way over to the alarm and turned it off, removing the searchlights he had avoided the entire time, before he noticed that the area in front of him had two voodoo guards patrolling the area in front of him... and there just happened to be a rope that allowed him to climb up to a chandelier and bypass the first guard for a moment.
He jumped down into the area below him and knocked out the voodoo guard that was pointing the direction he had come from, before jumping up to the area next to him and took out the guard that had ignored his friend being knocked out, though once that was done he collected the five clues from the two safes next to him, along with the one clue besides the safes, and backtracked for the two clues that the first guard had been staring at. Instead of moving forward he noticed the first guard he had spotted in this area happened to be guarding four clues, two hanging outside and two inside a safe, so he jumped down onto the platform the guard was patrolling and knocked him out, before sending Bentley the new clues he had collected. After that he sighed for a moment, because he realized that he would have to backtrack through the area he had cleared, and carefully made his way back up to the area that he had just jumped off of. When Sly reached the upper area again he jumped onto the rope that was in front of him and climbed up to the chandelier that was above him, though at the same time he heard an intercom come on in his area.
Hey there, Sly Cooper! Mz. Ruby said, stopping Sly in his tracks for a moment, as this was the first time someone he and his sisters were targeting had actually called them out in such a manner, once more revealing that they might be underestimating Mz. Ruby's powers, That's right, I know you're here. I've seen you in the stars, and you're all over my tea leaves. There's a power that dances around you, one that is not your own, that comes from a place I've never felt before. I know those sisters of your's have a power all their own, and I intend to find out what that power is!
"Great. So she thinks Gilda and Derpy have powers like she does," Sly commented, to which he shook his head for a moment, because not only was Mz. Ruby evil, she was also going insane at the same time, though that only meant he and his sisters had to be careful when they encountered their foe.
As Sly jumped down into the middle section of the waterfall, where some serpent statues were resting, he couldn't help but ponder some of Mz. Ruby's words as he collected the four bottles in the area and made his way back to the area he had jumped down from, for the second time so far. The reason he was thinking about what their foe had said was because the legends of pegasi and griffins usually went hand in hand with them possessing powers, but even after seeing what Mz. Ruby was capable of, indirectly speaking, there was no real reason for him to believe that his sisters had magical powers. Sure, some of the Cooper Clan techniques they had acquired seemed to be that way, but they were master thieves and had developed a technique for every occasion, and yet the thought of either Gilda or Derpy doing magic like Mz. Ruby unnerved him a little.
He shook that thought from his mind as he returned to the area he had been in moments ago, though he carefully sneaked his way around the laser defenses and gathered the three bottles that were off on the side once he was past the barrier, before he headed into the large chamber in front of him. He found seven floating platforms in front of him, four having candles that clearly powered something and another having an alarm, to which he rushed over the vine and turned off the alarm, before avoiding the flaming skull that was coming his way. After that he started smashing the candles that were around him, though once the path was open he continued forward and knocked out the cowardly skeletal turtle that was blocking he way before using the Ninja Spire Jump to carefully move over the spires in front of him. Sly then found two more clues on his left before jumping over the next set of spires, where he arrived at a walkway where a guard was protecting another voodoo candle, so which he took out the guard and smashed the candle, revealing a vine the should take him to the Treasure Key, before recovering the four clues behind him, two in the open and two in a safe.
Once that was done he jumped onto the vine and started sliding down it, only to stop when he found the last two clues and the safe, where he input the code, 5-7-1, and found the page that detailed Matthew de la Coopeur's Perpetual Slow Motion technique, the upgrade to the original Slow Motion Jump technique... to which he placed the calling card, rode the vine to the end of it's path, and collected the Treasure Key from it's container. As he made his way back to the entrance of this area he had to wonder what sort of obstacles his sisters had to overcome for their keys, and knew that he'd find out soon enough.
Derpy stared at the floating device for a few seconds, seeing that she could apparently move and fire at the same time if she so desired, along with a slot for her to put her cane in, where she carefully jumped onto the device and headed into the tunnel that was in front of her. A few moments later she appeared near some sort of boat, one that started moving the moment she was floating above it, though as she headed down the river she spotted large headstone generators further down the river. Since her vehicle, as Bentley called it, came equipped with a high energy cannon she started firing at the headstone, finding that Mz. Ruby was smart enough to put up some fortifications in front of her target, meaning she had to smash through the stone, and the ghosts, before the headstone was destroyed. As she moved down the river she spotted a large skeletal turtle that threw it's flaming skull at her, so while she crushed the next headstone she dodged the skulls until she could finish off the poor skeleton. A few moments later she reached the end of the river, or at least the part she could travel on, and smashed through the two headstones that were sending ghosts at her, before moving the vehicle forward and blasted the fortifications apart so she could move forward.
Once she entered the next area and fired at the fortifications that were blocking her way, though she was mindful of the skeleton that was in front of her before she smashed through the barrier that was in front of her, where she spotted two headstones this time around. She maneuvered around the area and blasted her way through the defenses that were arrayed against her, though as the headstones crumbled she rushed forward and continued blasting at the next area that was blocking the ramp she needed to head up. It took her a few moments to blast apart the fortifications and let the dead return to their slumber, before she rode up the ramp and followed the path that would take her right to the Treasure Key that was contained in this area. That, of course, involved her blasting down the fortifications that had been placed in her way and destroyed the headstone generator that had been set up, while also knocking out another skeletal turtle as she moved through the area.
The next part of the area had two more skeletal turtles, working like a team, throwing their flaming skulls at her, but she was able to outmaneuver them easily and blasted them down, allowing her to ride down into what appeared to be the final part of this area. She found three more headstone generators in this area, along with the Treasure Key that was her main target, and opened fire on the constructs that the ghosts were coming from, while at the same time carefully avoiding the ghosts that wanted to hurt her. When the first headstone fell apart the ghosts started increasing from the other two, as was common she noticed, but that didn't stop her from firing the cannon at her targets and caused the second headstone to crumble before her eyes... before she finished off the last of the ghosts and destroyed the final headstone generator, freeing the spirits that Mz. Ruby had called upon.
With her task complete Derpy moved over to where the Treasure Key was located and picked it up, though once she realized that this area didn't have a vault she opened her wings and took to the skies, where she headed back to the area that the cauldron was resting in. She briefly wondered how her siblings were doing with their respective tasks, and the areas that they had picked, and knew that she'd know the answer soon enough, once she got out of the area she happened to be in anyway.
Gilda looked at the inside of the building that the seventh, and final, Treasure Key was supposed to housed in, though she wasn't sure if Bentley was serious about this or if he was trying to pull her leg, but then she sighed as she realized that he would never joke about something like this. The inside of the building looked like a granary of some kind, complete with chickens walking around the area in front of her, along with hay and feathers everywhere, though what held her interest was the panther ghost that was floating in the middle of the ceiling with the Treasure Key.
"Bentley, what am I looking at here?" Gilda asked, because the interesting part about this area was that she was sure that she could fly around it if she needed to, it was that open, but she wanted to see what Bentley's plan was before she started using her own.
"That ghost over there contacted me on specter-wave radio and we've cut a deal." Bentley replied, revealing why the ghost was being oddly passive at the moment, if what Derpy had told her was anything to go by anyway, but Gilda kept silent as she studied the area, "He's promised us a key if you can whack fifty chickens. I guess he needs them to make a big pot of gumbo but he's scared of the bomb-toting roosters."
"A ghost that's scared of some roosters," Gilda said, to which she simply shook her head and stepped forward, while at the same time preparing to put away her binocucom so she could get her task started, "Oh well, might as well help him out and get some chickens for him."
Gilda opened her wings and floated into the air, where she hovered over the chickens and grabbed onto them with her cane, though when she had a few of them she took them over to the pot that the ghost wanted them stored in before she continued gathering chickens. The bomb-toting roosters, when they finally emerged, came in pairs and stared at her as she flew over their heads, indicating that they had never encountered a flying opponent like her and had no idea what to do in this situation. Since the roosters were ignoring her, since they couldn't hit her and it appeared that their explosion was small and didn't reach her if she moved higher in the air, Gilda was able to effectively gather the necessary number of chickens that the ghost required for his exchange and stored all of them inside the pot. A few moments later, when she was sure that she had fifty chickens, Gilda moved out of the way and let the ghost study the pot for a few seconds, to which the Treasure Key floated over to her as the panther ghost focused on his gumbo.
Gilda said nothing as she headed outside the building and landed in front of the platform they could use to unlock the lid of the cauldron, though it was some time before Derpy joined her and revealed that she had claimed her Treasure Key as well. A few minutes later Sly, the only one of them without wings, jumped up to the area they were standing in and revealed the Treasure Key that he had claimed before collecting the rest of them, while also revealing the page of the Thievius Raccoonus he had picked up earlier. Once the three of them were ready Sly unlocked the lid of the cauldron and let it fall into position, knocking the guards into the mixture that they had been working on, before Sly jumped down onto the lid and forced it to be still for a few seconds... before it launched him into the air and sent him flying towards the Skull Temple, while at the same time Gilda and Derpy flew after him before they all entered Mz. Ruby's temple.
When the siblings landed inside the Skull Temple they found that the only way over to the interior of the temple was along a pathway that was made from what appeared to be incisors and molars, where the incisors appeared to be spires and the molars were flat places they could jump on. At the very end of the path, staring at the three of them, was none other than Mz. Ruby herself, which meant that they had to be careful for this point forward, especially since she was focused more on Gilda and Derpy.
"So, they possess the power that is not of this world." Mz. Ruby stated, causing Derpy and Gilda to look at each other in confusion for a moment, as they had no idea what was going on, before turning their focus back to their main target and readied their canes, "I don't know how you two went this long without awakening your inner powers, but I look forward to seeing what you can do."
"Okay, what is she talking about?" Gilda asked, as none of this was making sense to her, where Derpy nodded her head in agreement, indicating that the two of them were lost at the moment.
"She thinks you two have some sort of power that's not of this world," Sly replied, to which he sighed as he stared at the member of the Fiendish Five they had come here to defeat, while at the same time wondering what was going to happen next, "she made a comment about it in the area I tackled to get the Treasure Key. I wouldn't worry about it, since she's likely lying to keep you distracted from defeating her."
"Oh Sly, I would never lie about this," Mz. Ruby said, where the siblings looked back in her direction, to which they noticed that she had a light smile on her face at the moment, though that didn't fill Sly with any good feelings, "Tell you what; if you beat me I'll tell you what I know about your sisters."
Sly had no idea what game Mz. Ruby was playing, or if he wanted to play it, but at the moment he was more interested in beating her and claiming the section of the Thievius Raccoonus that she had taken, to which he started jumping over the path that was in front of him. Gilda and Derpy, however, flew after him and avoided the fact that the ceiling was moving down and then back up, as Sly had to worry about the same thing, though the three of them were able to reach the area Mz. Ruby was in without delay. As they arrived the three of them had to avoid the shockwave that Mz. Rubby created by slamming her tail on the ground, where they jumped over the shockwave and struck their target in the chest, causing her to vanish and reappear further in the back of the chamber they were in.
"You can't run away forever!" Sly shouted, knowing that was the only way for their opponent to hear them at the moment, even though he knew that his sisters could traverse the swamp area between them and Mz. Ruby.
"Oh, I don't intend to." Mz. Ruby replied, to which she beckoned to something that was in front of where the three of them were standing, where the siblings looked down and noticed a turtle, large enough for one of them to stand on it's back, resting in front of them, "My servant Chumley will escort one of you over here. While that's happening, well, we're going to play a memory game and I'll see if you can handle a little bit of my magic... if not, you'll get zapped!"
Sly didn't like the sound of that, and Gilda seemed to dislike the thought of being shocked by something that they didn't understand, but before they could come to an opinion on what to do Derpy smiled and jumped onto the turtle's back, where she started moving forward before her siblings could stop her. Mz. Ruby smiled, as if she had been hoping for either of the sisters to come at her, before she started gathering her magic and started throwing spheres of energy, in four different locations and possessing four different colors, through the air. Derpy knew that these were designed so that whoever Mz. Ruby was facing would be able to see them, and maybe even avoid them entirely, but as the magical spheres came towards her something clicked inside her mind and she let her instincts take over for a moment... where Sly, Gilda, and even Mz. Ruby stared at her in shock for a few seconds. Derpy moved her hands as the spheres came at her, where she brushed them off like they were nothing and sent them flying into the walls and the water, allowing them to disperse without harming anything or anyone.
Before she even reached the halfway point Derpy reached forward and grabbed one of the spheres that were coming her way, with her bare hand no less, and jumped over the rest of the spheres that were coming her way... where she landed in front of Mz. Ruby and swung her cane, striking her in the chest and causing her to teleport to the next platform.
"What in the..." Mz. Ruby started to say, as she had never seen anyone knock her magical spheres out of the air in such a manner, much less with the accuracy that Derpy had showed, but as she thought about that she failed to account for the fact that she was still in the middle of a fight... as Derpy had flown towards her and struck her with the sphere she had grabbed, blasting her into the wall behind her.
Mz. Ruby coughed as she fell back to the platform that she was currently on, the fact that her own attack being used against her confused her teleport spell and prevented it from going off when she needed it, but she was thankful that she hadn't coughed up blood or anything. The reasoning behind that was because the sphere that Derpy had hit her with had been empowered by a very small fragment of her her latent magical power, and if that was enough to knock her into the wall, and cancel out her own spell, she could only wonder what sort of true power the pegasus possessed. Even that thought made her glance over at Gilda, the first griffin anyone had seen in who knew how long, and formed the same type of thought... though even as her mind considered the possibilities she knew one conclusion that they could eventually come to, one that made her chuckle for a few seconds.
Gilda and Sly, who landed nearby after Gilda flew them to where Derpy and Mz. Ruby had stopped, wondered what was going on at the moment, but at the same time Derpy seemed to calm down and looked confused, which was understandable since none of them had any idea what had happened to her.
"I was right, you're magic is strong... and that means hers is as well," Mz. Ruby commented, her eyes locked on both Derpy and Gilda, who were staring at her with some interest in their eyes, while at the same time she knew exactly what Sly was looking for, "but at the moment you haven't felt the catalyst that will awaken your powers... and part of me is actually praying that you never experience such an event. You know, I wish I had found you two when we were all younger, maybe then I wouldn't have turned my own powers towards evil, but that's a thought for another time. All I know is that the power you two possess is much stronger than my own, so much so that we could have had a proper magic duel if you had been trained before coming here... and that you will need some guidance in the future, to ensure you don't do anything you'll regret. In my vault rests some of the first spellbooks I acquired when I started learning about my gift..."
"And you want us to take them?" Gilda asked, because she wasn't sure if they could trust a member of the Fiendish Five, even if most of them, based on what they had read and what they had seen, had done some horrible things since they stole the Thievius Raccoonus.
"Yes. They'll provide the basics, should you decide to read them," Mz. Ruby replied, to which she leaned back and stayed there for a moment, where she simply looked at them with a strange light in her eye that Sly didn't know whether to trust or not, "Though you should get going in the next few minutes, because that cop friend of yours is closing in and she would love to lock us all away... and you'll have to avoid letting that happen, if you want to reach the true monster of our little group."
Sly immediately knew that Mz. Ruby meant Carmelita, as she was the only 'cop friend' that was female that he knew about, to which Gilda grabbed onto him as she and Derpy headed towards the location of the vault that Mz. Ruby had pointed out to them. Inside they found the promised spellbooks that the priestess had told them about, in almost pristine condition by the looks of things, and carefully stored them away in their own packs, so they could decide what to do with them when they were out of Haiti. After that Sly collected what they had really came for, the page of the Thievius Raccoonus that was from Slytunkhamen Cooper, the creator of the family tome, and detailing his Invisibility technique, though instead of focusing on it he stashed it away and left the calling card behind... before Gilda and Derpy carried him off into the distance, leaving Mz. Ruby behind so she could face Carmelita and the consequences for her actions.
Unbeknownst to them Mz. Ruby coughed and pulled herself from where she had been resting, to which she walked over to a nearby crystal ball and waved a hand, revealing a scene she had seen many times in the last few days, but never found out what the conclusion was; three figures, being Sly, Derpy, and Gilda Cooper, flying through the air as they faced off against a shadowy owl like figure, one she recognized all too well.
"They're strong, that's no lie." Mz. Ruby told herself, still rubbing the bruised area that Derpy had struck, as that was going to hurt for the next few days at the very least, while she focused on the crystal ball, "Hopefully they're strong enough to get rid of a true menace."
Soon the Coopers would find out who the true monster of the Fiendish Five was and face off against him, though she silently prayed that they had the power to overcome what he threw at them... though she remained standing there until the police finally came to arrest her, where she simply gave in and followed them outside, knowing she had bought some time for the siblings to escape and silently sent them her best wishes for their success against their true foe.
The first thing the siblings did, after landing by the van and letting Murray take off with all of them sitting in their proper places, was find a nice area, that was far away from Mz. Ruby's lair, so Sly and his sisters could practice the Invisibility technique they had picked up. That, in itself, required that they head back to civilization so they could find an abandoned building of some kind to do their practicing in, which gave Sly and his sisters time to study Slytunkahmen's page of the Thievius Raccoonus, so they could understand how to use the technique. They discovered that if one of them were to stand completely still they would be rendered invisible, but if a guard was searching for them, for instance, they wouldn't be able to do that. Bentley was actually pretty interested in this technique, the application of how they could turn invisible being his main focus, and was already trying to come up with some sort of training method for them to use while they practicing the new techniques they had picked up.
When they finally got back to civilization Bentley found them a nice abandoned building that they could use for a few hours, which Sly, Derpy, and Gilda did since they were all eager to test out Slytunkahmen's technique, causing Bentley and Murray to watch as the siblings faded in and out of sight at will. Since the other two techniques they had picked up were modifications to techniques they already knew, and had practiced a little since they acquired them, the siblings made sure they remembered the other skills they had unlocked as well. Once a few hours had ticked by the group left the building and set up camp near the city, as all of them had earned a few days off to relax from the strangeness of Mz. Ruby's base of operations and what she had been attempting to do. As such the group spent some time in the sunshine, working on their tans in the process, while Sly eventually found the newspaper headline that detailed Carmelita's 'capture' of Mz. Ruby and the fact that she needed 'help' in catching the 'mysterious thieves' that she couldn't catch.
One thing the gang discovered as that the production of zombies, apparently made illegal in the World Peace Accord of '71, earned Mz. Ruby a life sentence behind bars, meaning that she was likely to spent the rest of her life in jail, unless she suddenly allied with the law and worked out a deal with them... but the changes of that happening were slim to none, since she had been willing to build an army to take over Mexico, which the gang was happy to stop in it's tracks.
During their time on the beach both Gilda and Derpy pulled out the spellbooks that Mz. Ruby had given them, mainly because they were interested in what the priestess wanted them to have, though for the most part it was focused on voodoo magic, which made sense considering who they came from. In addition to what they had seen, the twisted and dark nature of the swamp being the prime example, Mz. Ruby had also apparently learned abilities for self-defense, healing, protection, and other things. The sisters weren't too sure that they should even bother learning the magical arts that Mz. Ruby had given them the tools to start learning, as they had been expecting a more general field than what they were given, but that didn't stop them from reading the spells with some interest. Eventually the sisters put the spellbooks back in the van and enjoyed the few days off that they were spending on the beach, though after a few days Sly said it was time for them to get moving to the base of operations for the fourth member of the Fiendish Five.
The resulting road trip gave Sly and his sisters the time they needed to study up on the Panda King, who, according to the information the file contained, had been born penniless and had been fascinated by the fireworks rich noblemen set off every New Years. He then spent a decade learning the art, similar to what Derpy and Gilda went through to learn everything Sly knew about thieving, but when the Panda King tried to offer his fireworks to the noblemen they couldn't see past his shabby clothes and chased him away. Humiliated, the Panda King took revenge on those who shunned him by using the very tools of his art for crime. The Fiendish Five recruited him sometime later as their demolitions expert, and from then on his explosive touch became feared worldwide, identical to what happened to the other members of the group they were taking out. The last thing the police file contained was that the Panda King was rumored to be perfecting some new firework technique high in the unstable Kunlun Mountains of western China... which was where they were heading at that very moment.
Sly, Gilda, and Derpy had no idea what sort of evil the Panda King was committing in the area he had claimed, but at the same time they prepared themselves for whatever was coming up next, especially after everything they witnessed during their travels through Mz. Ruby's swamp.
Eventually Murray arrived at the edge of the Panda King's territory, in the area that Bentley told him to stop in, and allowed Sly, Gilda, and Derpy to climb out the back of the van, though once they were outside they closed the doors and let Murray drive off to a safe location for when they were done. Once Bentley, Murray, and the van were gone the siblings turned their attention to what was in front of them and crossed over the short stone bridge that was in front of them, which allowed them to see that their first foe was a purple mandrill that was wielding a wooden staff. What they immediately discovered was that they had to be wary here, as these guards were more attentive than the guards they had encountered in the other bases, as the mandrill spotted them and came at them immediately. Since it was clear that stealth would be hard in this area, if the guards were going to see them before they did anything, Gilda dodged the attack that was coming her way and struck the mandrill in the chest... where he fell to the ground and remained there, where they noticed that he was still breathing before moving forward.
After the guard was taken out they turned to their right and removed the pair of clue bottles from the safe that was near the entrance, before heading towards the next bridge, where Sly spotted two bottles off on the left side of the area and Derpy located another behind a tree. After that they knocked out the mandrill that was blocking the way, causing Gilda to double back for another pair of clues, behind another tree, before they walked over the stone bridge and stared at the next guard that was in front of them. The siblings then climbed up the slope that was in front of them, where they noticed the their next opponent was a large ape guard that was accompanied by a smaller monkey, one that jumped onto the small catapult beside it as the larger ape slammed his fists onto the end of the device. That resulted in the smaller monkey being flung into the air and created a snowball that was designed to hurt them, though since it was one ape and one small monkey it was easy to avoid the incoming snowball and knock out the ape... before backing up and making sure that the ape's partner was knocked out as well.
From there the three of them followed the path around a corner until they noticed a large panda statue off in the distance, which they all agreed had to be the home of the Panda King, but before they moved forward Derpy noticed something that interested her.
"Would you look at that?" Derpy commented, causing her siblings to turn and look at what she was looking at, which was a firework being launched into the air, from the Panda King's statue no less, "A fireworks show!"
The siblings watched as the firework struck the top of a nearby peak and caused an avalanche in the process, though as that happened the three of them noticed a village that was at the base of the peak, one that was instantly crushed by the incoming force of snow that the firework had caused.
"Oh my gosh, that's awful!" Bentley exclaimed, as Sly had been watching the entire event with his binocucom and Bentley had been watching all of this happen with some interest, only for that interest to turn to horror, "That poor village just got buried in freezing snow!"
"That rocket came from that giant statue, and you can bet the Panda King lit the fuse." Sly said, to which all three of them turned their attention to the statue in question, as now they had another reason to stop the Panda King, "We've got to find my way up there and fast before that lunatic squashes another town."
"From here I could see some tracks near the village," Gilda commented, while at the same time Sly put his binocucom away and turned towards her, as he wanted to hear what she had to say before they moved forward, "but I would have needed to be standing near them to determine if they were fresh or if they were old. It's possible that the inhabitants of that village were able to escape before the Panda King crushed their homes, but without any additional information it's hard to say what the fate of the villagers really is."
As the siblings turned towards the hook that was in front of them, which would allow them to get up to the area in front of them, Gilda smashed a clue bottle and sent it to Bentley as Sly was the first to latch his cane to the hook and swing up to the upper area. Derpy and Gilda followed after him, where they used the hook to follow after him before they headed through the carved out passage that was in front of them, one that happened to be guarded by an ape and monkey pair. Fortunately the three of them didn't get spotted immediately, so Gilda and Derpy saved them some effort by flying over to the backside of the pair and knocked them out, allowing Sly to catch up with them before they moved out onto the wooden bridge, which happened to be in three separate sections. Along the way they collected three more clue bottles and used a hook to get to the last part of the bridge, where they found a gate that happened to be locked and that the only way over it, save for flying, was to sneak along the path on their right.
As it turned out there were a few falling icicles that were falling along the way, which all of them were able to avoid, and they sneaked around a second path that was identical to the first one, though that brought them to an area with two more of the ape guards, who were already launching snowball containing monkeys at them. Gilda and Derpy flew through the air and knocked out the guards as Sly avoided the pair of snowballs coming at him, though as they got back together, and walked through the gate in front of them, they noticed that the way forward was blocked by an iron gate. Fortunately there happened to be a red firework nearby that Derpy struck, which flew through the air and struck the object that was blocking their way, causing it to fall into place between them and the path it had been blocking. That allowed them to walk over the fallen gate and used the bounce pad to access the area above them, one that revealed the entrance of the Panda King's fortress... and the fact that it happened to be locked at the moment, along with the siblings discovering a building off on their immediate left that had to contain the key to opening the gate.
Patrolling the area between them and the two areas they needed to go through was a gorilla guard with a flashlight and a rather deadly sword, though as the three of them headed down into the area near the guard they each engaged their invisibility and disappeared for a few moments... only to reengage when the guard's back was turned, allowing them to knock him out before moving forward.
They quickly discovered that the only way to progress was to sneak around the exterior of the building on their left, though since it appeared that the three guards on the upper level were constantly moving the three of them agreed that only one of them should tackle the obstacles. Derpy and Gilda stayed back as Sly carefully made his way around the exterior of the building, staying in the shadows of the various widows that were along his path, before reaching the end that happened to be at the base of a ramp. That ramp allowed him to reach a cluster of firework rockets that, when he fired them with swing of his cane, raced through the air and took out all three of the gorilla guards, allowing Gilda and Derpy to catch up with him once more. From there they collected three clue bottles before unleashing another pair of fireworks, one that slammed into the gate and opened it while the second one slammed into one of the iron grates in the floor they were standing on... which revealed the location of the safe, though that meant they needed a few more clues before they could get the page that was inside it.
From there they dropped down into the room below them and walked outside, where they walked over the downed gate and took out the mandrill that was standing near the gate that had a lock on it, before collecting the pair of clues from the safe off on their left... before noticing that the Treasure Key was off on the right, which required them going through a series of gorilla guards before they could claim the key.
Sly, Gilda, and Derpy smiled as they took three separate routes through the area between them and the location of the Treasure Key, where they used the invisibility technique to avoid being seen and knocked out the guards that walked by them. Along the way they ignored the clues for the moment, choosing to focus on their foes and the obstacles that were in front of them, before they managed to reach the Treasure Key and claimed it, putting a real smile on their faces since they were now one step closer to the Panda King. From there the three of them carefully made their way back to the locked gate and collected the fourteen clues that happened to be scattered throughout this one area, which happened to be the amount of clues necessary to break the vault and claim the page inside it. The siblings got back together and returned to where the vault was located, where Sly carefully put in the code, 5-7-8, and unlocked the door, where the three of them discovered a page from the Thievius Raccoonus... Huckleberry Cooper's modifications to the invisibility technique, which allowed them to slowly move while using Slytunkahmen's technique.
With the calling card in place the siblings headed back to the locked gate and used the Treasure Key to enter the stronghold that the Panda King had built, where they all knew that they would eventually find their foe... after they claimed the remaining six Treasure Keys, whatever was in the other vaults, and unlocked the path to his statue.
The moment that Sly, Gilda, and Derpy were through the first locked gate of the Panda King's stronghold they walked out of the tunnel they had been in and noticed that, in order to get a good view of their foe's base, that they needed to use the hook in front of them and bypass the gorilla guard that was patrolling the area. As such the three of them carefully made their way to the location that the guard was standing in and used their new improved invisibility to sneak up beside him, though once his back was turned they revealed themselves and knocked him out. That, in turn, allowed them to climb up to the upper area that was above them, where they noticed three immediate paths, all bearing one of Bentley's markers, a cluster of fireworks that had three Treasure Key locks attached to it, and an iron grate that blocked the way forward. The siblings glanced at each other for a few seconds, as they already knew what they needed to do here, but at the same time they figured they might as well see if Bentley had anything to say to them.
As such the three of them withdrew their binocucoms and stared at the area around them, allowing them to hook back up with Bentley, who was currently smiling at the moment, which had to be a good sign considering that Mz. Ruby's base had really freaked him out.
"Nice job breaking into the Panda King's compound." Bentley told them, confirming what they were thinking at the moment, before they locked onto the grate that was nearby, revealing that he was thinking the same thing that had been going through their minds, "I think I've figured out a way to get to the top of that giant statue, but unfortunately, it's obstructed by this reinforced ceiling hatch."
"That's not much of a problem." Sly said, to which his sisters nodded their heads in agreement as they all looked at the three objectives that were around them, as they already knew what they needed to do next, "They seem to have plenty of firepower around here. We'll just have to find a few more Treasure Keys to get at it."
"Well I'll leave the three of you to do what you do best," Bentley replied, revealing that he had faith in their abilities, since they had overcome a lot of odds to reach this point in time, and smiled at them before he switched off his side of the binocucom for the moment.
Sly, Gilda, and Derpy did the same thing, though as they started to take in the various areas around them, and thought about what they might face in the near future, the three of them were interrupted when they heard an intercom come on, the sign that the Panda King was going to relay a message to his guards... those that were paying attention, as Sly saw one that seemed like he was dozing off.
Attention, valued employee. the Panda King said, sounding like he actually respected his guards and that they must have been treated better than those in the other bases they had visited so far, Suddenly, Hinkau village elect not to pay for avalanche protection service, and so I am forced to bury alive under many ton of snow. Please be on guard for any surviving villager that come looking for revenge. Thank you, that is all.
"Well, at least the Panda King is more respectful than the others were," Gilda commented, even though the Panda King had buried an entire village earlier, which only made all three of them even more annoyed with him, "Well, I'm taking the path to the right of where we came from, if that's fine with the two of you."
"Sure, I'm fine with you tackling that area," Sly said, to which he turned and pointed over at the path that required that he jump over some lights of some description, before he turned towards his sisters, "I'm feeling that this particular path is more for me... which means that Derpy gets the path on the left side of the stronghold."
That seemed to make Derpy happy, meaning that it had likely been what she was going to go for if she had a chance to speak up, but instead of saying anything the three of them decided to get to work and started moving towards the areas that they had agreed to take... where Sly paused for a moment to see Gilda and Derpy use the modified invisibility to sneak up to the guards in front of their areas, knowing them out in the process, before they disappeared. Sly chuckled as he headed into the path that was in front of him, knowing that soon enough all three of them would be back together and they would be able to progress into the second half of the Panda King's stronghold.
As Derpy emerged from the path that she had chosen, and discovered that it was a either a set of buildings the Panda King had taken over or a temple of some kind, she listened to Bentley as he said that this might be a good place for her to get some additional practice with the invisibility technique. She followed the walkway that was in front of her and found two clue bottles off to the left of the first building's entrance, which she collected, before finding out that the front door was barred with a piece of wood. Since the windows seemed to be open, with no glass planes to worry about, Derpy jumped into the window frame that she was near and entered the building, where she discovered a conveyor belt that would allow her to get behind the gorilla guard in front of her, provided she use the invisibility technique. As such she focused her mind for a moment and turned invisible as she hid in the side area of the room, where she slowly walked onto the conveyor belt and let it carry her to the end of it's track... where she revealed herself and knocked out the guard, before gathering two clues from the safe behind the wall and headed out into the open area in front of her.
She then found another gorilla guard standing in front of her, his light moving over the two clue bottles between them, to which she faded out of sight once more and started slowly walking over to her target's blind spot, where she knocked him out and gathered the clues before moving forward.
After doing that she discovered that the next area in front of her was blocked by several crates and there was a gorilla guard staring at the path that she needed to walk up, so she used the invisibility to walk over the walkway that she needed to cross over, allowing the new technique to keep her hidden. Of course she had to wait for a few seconds, since the light was shining over the crates she needed to jump over, when she wasn't invisible, before she could jump over the crates and entered the next building. From there she moved onto the path that some moving lasers were moving down, along with some searchlights, so she used the invisibility when the lights and the lasers were close to her, finding that none of them could see her, before she eventually reached the top of the path and turned off the alarm that was up there. She found a clue near the alarm and smashed it open, before moving out to the opening that was in front of where she was standing and found that she could use the spires in front of her to reach the building the gorilla guard was stationed in.
She made her way across the pair of spires, found an opening that allowed her to drop down into the area the gorilla guard was in, knocked him out before he even realized that she was there, before collecting the two clues beside her and then climbed back up to the roof so she could access the second story of the first building she had entered.
Derpy found another conveyor belt in the room in front of her, one moving in her direction with a guard at the very end, so she went invisible once more and carefully moved towards the guard when the light was on her, before she eventually reached the end and knocked the surprised guard out. From there she turned to the left of where the guard was stationed and found three more clues waiting for her, though after she grabbed those ones she investigated the right side as well and found two more hiding over there. With all of the clues gathered and sent to Bentley she headed over to the rail that happened to be located near where the guard was laying and found that it would take her right to the structure that was in front of her, which had to be where the Treasure Key was located. She jumped onto the rail and headed down to the area that was below her, where she discovered that the Treasure Key was definitely in the structure in front of her... which meant all she needed to do was find the entrance to the structure and the key was as good as hers.
She headed to the right and followed the path in front of her, where she had to deal with a mandrill guard and a female chimpanzee that dropped down from the tree that she was approaching, though once the two of them were knocked out she continued searching for the clues and the path to the key.
As Derpy opened a safe, and collected the pair of clues inside it, she was assaulted by another mandrill that she was forced to knock out, before she jumped up the branches of the tree next to her and gathered the pair of clues that were resting above the safe. From there she climbed up another set of branches and reached the first ring of the structure, which was the beginning of the path, and carefully knocked out the chimpanzee that tried to attack her, before using her invisibility to bypass the gorilla guard around the corner and collected the pair of clues behind him once she knocked him out. After that she climbed up the pole that she had ignored for a few seconds, jumped over the gap in the floor that was in front of her, and then carefully climbed up a second pole before using the rail to head over to the third story of the first building that rested in this area. A few seconds later, when she arrived at the other end of the rail, she found that the area in front of her had some lasers that were moving above the floor, though instead of gathering the four hanging clues she headed over to the other side of the floor and turned off the alarm.
Once the alarm was taken care of Derpy gathered the four hanging clues that she had ignored, before heading back to the alarm and four three more clues, two resting inside a safe and one more resting outside it, though once all of the clues had been collected she latched onto one of the hooks that were moving between her and the main structure and let it carry her to her destination. The moment she reached the structure she let go of the hook and moved around the corner, where she knocked out the chimpanzee that was waiting and gathered the two clues that she was guarding, before using the nearby pole to climb up to the next level. She then found the entrance of the area that the Treasure Key was located in and ignored it for now, since she was more interested in the vault, and climbed up to the next level, which happened to be the final level of the structure. It was then that she found that the final clue of the area was on the top spire of the structure she had been ascending, where she opened her wings and took to the skies... though after she claimed the clue, and sent it to Bentley, she landed beside the vault and waited.
A few seconds ticked by before Bentley informed her that he had the combination, to which Derpy turned to the tumblers and input the code, which was 6-6-7, before opening the door and found a page from the Thievius Raccoonus, or more accurately Sir Augestine of Cooper's technique to Briefly Defy Gravity. She read over the page for a few seconds and determined that this was more suit for Sly than for her and Gilda, though she memorized the technique, in the off chance that she couldn't use her wings to save herself, and replaced the page with a calling card. Once that was done she headed back down to the entrance of the path that would take her down to the Treasure Key, where she carefully made her way down the various platforms that lined the walls, before she reached the area that the key was located in and turned off the alarm... before she removed the Treasure Key and smiled as she pocketed it.
"Sly's going to want to see this technique," Derpy commented, to which she opened her wings and carefully flew back up to the entrance of the structure, before heading back to the entrance of this entire area while she wondered what sort of challenges her siblings had to overcome.
Gilda couldn't resist smiling as she looked at the temple that was in front of her, as this seemed like an interesting place to explore since the Panda King was supposed to have explosives somewhere, but instead of staying in one place she started moving down the bridge that was in front of her. As she moved she had to take out the mandrill guard that was in front of her, which she approached from behind and knocked out before he could spot her, before she climbed up the pole that was on her left and rode the rail down to the area in front of her. When she reached the lower level she knocked out the mandrill guard off on her left and used the hook in that was right in front of her to bypass the lasers that were blocking the path, where she landed behind an alarm and turned it off. Instead of using the group of hooks to reach the area in front of her, and continue along the proper path, Gilda walked down the slope in front of her and found a trio of clues that she immediately collected, before heading back up and using the hooks to move forward.
When she reached the area that a bounce pad was in, and used it to ambush a gorilla guard that had his back turned towards him, Gilda noticed that she had to carefully sneak over the metallic walkway and avoid the lasers that were moving around certain sections.
Fortunately Gilda was able to overcome that trial without anything happening and found another hook section, but instead of using it she descended the slope in front of her and found a path she could sneak around, which brought her to a pair of clues. With those clues in hand she returned to the area the hooks were in and used them to bypass the lasers that were in front of her, where she turned off the alarm and started moving forward, though that required that she knock out a gorilla guard before she could claim two more clues off on her right. After that she continued down the path in front of her and knocked out the chimpanzee that tried to kick her, before sneaking along a cliff face to reach the underground entrance of the temple. That, in itself, required that she knock out another chimpanzee before she could actually move into the temple, where she discovered that this was actually the training ground for some more guards, along with a safe with a pair of clues hidden nearby.
With the clues acquired Gilda moved over to the large statue that was at the back of the room and noticed that she could walk along the ledge that had been built into the sides of the statue, making her realize that this entire place seemed to have been built to test Cooper techniques... making her wonder if the Panda King knew more about their family, which actually worried her a bit.
Since she was worried by what the Panda King might know, and the fact that he was likely waiting for their arrival, Gilda jumped over the chandelier that was in front of her and sneaked around one of the sides of the gong that she had touched down in front of. On the other side she found a trio of clue bottles waiting for her, which she quickly collected before she climbed up to the top of the structure that the gong was attached to, though as she reached the top she spotted an area that four more clues rested in, one that was designed to force someone to fall to the ground and climb back up if they were able. Since she had wings, however, Gilda simply flew over to where the clues were located and grabbed them, before she smashed the bottles, sent the information to Bentley, and used the nearby rail to leave the building she was in. A few seconds later, when she was on the exterior of the temple again, she found a lower area that contained two more clues, which she eagerly collected, before she found a shield of some kind that had fireworks attached to it, which acted like an elevator that took her back up to the level above her.
From there Gilda used the next to her rail to reach an area above a gorilla guard, which she dropped down and knocked out, before she had to knock out a chimpanzee that was nearby... though after that she found that she could enter a covered area that was being guarded by another gorilla guard.
Instead of going through with using the invisibility technique again, as that seemed to be the case with this area, she used her wings to get behind the guard and knocked him out, before collecting the two bottles the gorilla was guarding and another pair of clues that were inside a safe as well. Once she had done that she used the shield in front of her, which the gorilla guard had been watching over, and rode it up to the level that was above her, though when she reached the roof she found another path that brought her to another elevator shield. She was happy to have chosen to take the second shield, as it brought her to three more clues, before she dropped back down to the roof, climbed up a pair of poles, and approached the hook area that was in front of her, which also required taking out a pair of chimpanzee guards before crossing the distance. When she reached the end of the hook area she found a cliff face that she needed to sneak around, but instead of doing that Gilda opened her wings and flew up to the back entrance of the structure that was above her, where she found some lasers moving above the floor... and, at the other side of the chamber, she found the vault and the Treasure Key.
With the prize in sight Gilda flew over the floor and landed in front of the vault, where she entered 9-3-2 and discovered the blueprints for the Panda King's domain, where she chuckled at the thought that she had saved Derpy from taking this area, before she left the calling card behind. Once all of that was in place she headed over to the Treasure Key and retrieved it, where she smiled and flew out of the area entirely, as she was sure that her siblings were either waiting for her or would soon be finishing up the areas they had headed into.
Sly stared down at the blasting station that was in front of him for a few seconds, as he had found it after moving along the carved out path that he had picked out, before he stared out at the part of the stronghold that was further away from the rest of the grounds that he and his sisters had access to. The reason he was staring out at the other part of the stronghold was because he could see Murray standing in an open area as he waited for someone to be the gunner for this mission, to which he said nothing as he pulled out his binocucom and zeroed in on his friend.
"Murray's all fired up to make the run for the key." Bentley said, revealing the reason why Murray was out here, which reminded Sly of what Gilda had mentioned after they had taken out Muggshot, about taking control of a turret and kept Murray safe, "He needs someone to provide cover fire while he does so."
"Don't worry Bentley, I'll keep him covered." Sly replied, though at the same time he put down his binocucom and climbed onto the blasting station, where it zeroed in on the area that Murray was standing in and he nodded his head for a few seconds, hoping Murray got the message.
Fortunately Murray did get the message and started moving immediately, to which Sly followed after him and opened fire on the Panda King's guards that got in his friend's way, which included all the types of guards he and his sisters had encountered and a few new ones at the same time. One thing he had to watch out for was the fact that he had to fire at some of the fireworks that were in the immediate area, which opened the way for Murray to move forward, though he simply stared at the path Murray was following and continued firing at the guards. It didn't appear that there were any real hazardous materials in the area, like the ones that Gilda had to deal with when she protected Murray back in Mesa City, and the only real danger his friend was in happened to be when he reached the end point and an alarm went off. The encouraged a number of gorilla guards to emerge from the sides of the building that the Treasure Key was housed in, where they started aiming at Murray with their weapons, indicating that they were going to throw their swords in an attempt to kill his friend.
Sly, acting fast, zeroed in on the gorilla guards as they emerged and took them out before they could lock onto where Murray was standing, though it took him some time to clear out all of the enemies, since there was a fair number of them, but once that was done, and the alarm silenced itself, Murray claimed the Treasure Key and headed back to the path he took to reach this area.
Since there wasn't anything else to do here Sly made his way back to the main entrance of the stronghold, where he found that neither of his sisters had returned yet, so he headed back down the main path and headed to a meet up point where Murray handed him the Treasure Key. With that in hand he returned to the stronghold and stood beside the cluster of fireworks that they had been staring at when they reached this area, though a few minutes ticked by before both of his sisters returned to him. He then found out that while Gilda had found the blueprints for the Panda King's area, which he thought was interesting since Derpy was the one that usually found them, Derpy had recovered another page from the Thievius Raccoonus, one that he was eager to memorize. Once the three of them were together they used three of the four keys they possessed and unlocked the fireworks, where Derpy hit them and stood back as the cluster flew through the air... slamming into the grate in front of them and opened the way to the second half of the Panda King's base.
The siblings smiled at each other as they descended into the opening in front of them, because soon the fourth member of the Fiendish Five would feel their wrath, and then they could focus on the last member of the group... and not only complete the Thievius Raccoonus, but avenge Sly's father as well.
When Sly, Derpy, and Gilda walked through the part of the building that the hatch had been blocking, after having collected the Treasure Keys in the first part of the Panda King's stronghold, they discovered three more areas for them to explore, which wasn't a surprise, and another set of fireworks that were locked down by seven locks. The three paths that were open to them included a tunnel that a gorilla guard happened to be standing in front of, a small building that seemed to lead to another section of the stronghold that they hadn't been in yet, and the third contained another blasting vehicle that was identical to the one that Derpy had used in Mz. Ruby's lair. Gilda didn't have to be told how this was going through Derpy and Sly's minds at the moment, as she already knew that Derpy was eager to use the vehicle and tackle whatever was on the other side of the iron door that was in front of it, while she knew that same was true for Sly and the other part of the stronghold. Before she could say anything, however, the three of them pulled out their binocucoms and looked at the fireworks that were locked down, knowing that Bentley would have something to tell them.
"So Bentley," Sly said, remembering how he and his sisters had to get into the various areas that the members of the Fiendish Five had been located in, as in shooting himself out of a cannon or riding a cauldron lid to a temple, "am I correct in assuming that those fireworks will take us to the top of the Panda King's statue?"
"That's correct." Bentley told them, though there was something in his voice that made all three of them wonder if there was something he was concerned about, in regards to that plan, "In fact it's labeled that way on the blueprints that you discovered earlier... and, from what I've read so far, there's just enough information here to reveal the general location of the Treasure Keys."
"You know, that makes me think the Panda King intended for this to happen," Gilda commented, thinking back to what she had thought about in the previous part of the stronghold that she had taken on her own, as this seemed to match her earlier observations, "Call me crazy, but what if the Panda King built this stronghold to test us, for our eventual confrontation with the final member of the Fiendish Five? I ask this because the area I went through seemed to test certain techniques we had picked up during our training, making me worry that he knew more about us than what we knew about him."
"You mean he's waiting to meet us in battle?" Derpy asked, as that was the one thing she knew her sister wasn't saying, because they were fine with Raleigh and Muggshot not being prepared for them and with Mz. Ruby being ready for their arrival, but this time it appeared to be different.
"Well, regardless of what he's waiting for, we had best get underway," Sly said, to which he put away his binocucom and turned towards his siblings, where he noticed that the two of them did the same thing, "Derpy, you should take the vehicle and blast your way through whatever obstacles that are between you and the Treasure Key, and Gilda, I think you can tackle whatever is on the other side of that tunnel. I'll scout out the other part of the stronghold and see where the seventh and final Treasure Key for this area is located, before we get back together and take on our target."
The sisters nodded as the three of them separated from each other, as while Derpy sneaked through the shadows and took out the gorilla guard that was blocking the path in front of her she noticed that Gilda did the same thing with her opponent and Sly bypassed another mandrill guard. Derpy smiled as her siblings headed into their areas and disappeared, to which she climbed onto the blasting vehicle and set her cane into the area she had put it into when they were in Mz. Ruby's lair. A few moments later she turned the blaster on the iron door and blasted her way through it, before she rode the vehicle through the wrecked doorway and started to follow the path that was in front of her as she began the search for her Treasure Key. It didn't take her long to discover a path that belonged on the inside of a building and rode over it, where she fired at the door that was blocking her way, iron like the last one, and smiled when she tore through it as well.
That was when Derpy noticed that the area she was in seemed to be the firework production facility, though she shelved that thought for the moment as she blasted her way through the barricades that were in front of her, took out the monkeys that were climbing out of the openings in the floor along her path, and then closed said openings so she could move forward. She then turned around the corner that was in front of her and opened fire on the group of monkey guards that were climbing out of the second opening, where she blasted her way through the obstacles and found another iron door, this one larger than the last two, blocking her way. Derpy stared at the door for a few seconds before blasting through the door, though as she entered the building, and tore her way through the barricades that were laying in her path, the intercom came on for a few seconds.
Attention, valued employee. the Panda King said, confirming Derpy's suspicions on who was going to be talking, to which she paused the vehicle for a moment to listen to what their foe had to say, It has come to my attention that a thief is loose somewhere inside the firework production facility. Please do your part to pitch in by capturing this intruder on sight. Thank you, that is all.
That confirmed many things for Derpy, more specifically the fact that the Panda King was interested in them, as he said 'capture' and not 'kill' or anything like that, though as she came to that realization she continued along the path that was in front of her and continued blasting her way through the barricades and the monkey guards that were coming towards her. Soon she reached an area where there were two openings and pairs of guards emerged from the area below her, revealing that they were trying to take her out in mass, but she focused her fire on her targets and carefully closed the pair of openings that were blocking the way. As she descended to the lowest level of the facility she noticed that there was a third opening, meaning that she had to weave back and forth from the left side of the conveyor belt to the right side of the conveyor belt, allowing the blasts to take out the guards in a calculated manner as she moved closer and closer to where the openings were located.
Eventually she was able to take out the openings and close them so more monkey guards didn't come at her, to which she breathed a sigh of relief as she headed up to the iron door in front of her, blasted her way through it, and exited the facility at long last. From there she found that she had to follow a snowy area, with the large ape guards positioned along the way, and that she had to use the vehicle to tear through the mounds that were in front of her, so that way she could get through the path and avoid the large snowballs that were being rolled in her direction, as they would be extremely painful if she got hit by one of them. After the first group of enemies she descended into a lower area and had to repeat that same thing twice more, heading up an area with the ape guards, blasting through the mounds that had been set up to slow down her progress, and blasted her way through the guards themselves before moving onward.
In no time at all she finished off the last of the ape guards and rode the vehicle to the pillar the Treasure Key was resting on the top of, where she blasted the pillar to bits until the key was hers... though once she had the key she grabbed her cane, opened her wings, and departed from the area, all while curious as to what Sly and Gilda were doing.
Gilda sighed as she stared down at the obvious race track that was resting around a building that specialized in selling snow cones, where she found Murray and the van lined up with some monkeys that were likely trying to pressure him into racing them. She didn't mind getting missions where she had to do nothing, as it allowed her to relax and unwind a little, but at the moment all she could do was think about what she had seen her sister do back in Mz. Ruby's temple, as she and Sly had never seen anything like that. Mz. Ruby claimed that she and Derpy had magical powers, ones that weren't of this world based on what she said, and that they needed a catalyst to harness the powers that they had, which she feared happening for some reason. The voodoo priestess was a strange one, as it appeared that she had originally been hoping to see their power for herself, though when they reached the end of their fight she said she hoped they never experienced a catalyst for their 'powers'.
Gilda paused in her train of thought as the race started and Murray started his battle against the monkeys, though she paid him no mind as she lifted her left hand and stared at it, wondering what sort of catalyst they needed to unlock the powers that Mz. Ruby had seen inside them... if she and Derpy were willing to listen to what she had said.
Sly, from what she had seen, was convinced that Mz. Ruby had been pulling their legs, but even then she couldn't fault what she had seen and knew that Derpy had never moved that fast in her life before that point, as even Derpy had been confused when she snapped out of whatever state she had been in. Despite her thoughts she knew that there had to be some truth to what Mz. Ruby had told them, as Derpy had held one of the magical spheres in her hand and used it against the person that had thrown it, and that included her increased speed to keep up with Mz. Ruby's teleporting spell. That only made her wonder what power Mz. Ruby had seen in them and what it would take to unlock the abilities that she didn't want them to discover, but before she could actually get too deep into her thoughts her binocucom went off and she discovered that Murray was done with the race, and he had won them the key that was being offered.
Gilda sighed as she opened her wings and flew down to where Murray was standing, where she congratulated him on winning the race and told him that he did a good job, before heading back to the area that the second cluster of fireworks were located, so she could wait for Sly and Derpy to arrive... and hoped that they were having a blast with their areas.
Carmelita shivered as she carefully stood on the nose of the dragon statue that she had discovered, because she had been following the Coopers and the last member of the Fiendish Five they had taken out, the voodoo priestess Mz. Ruby, had told her exactly where they were going, after remaining silent for a few days. She had no idea why one of the Fiendish Five, the sworn enemies of the Cooper Gang, would willingly withhold information on them, but there wasn't much she could do to Mz. Ruby, since her actions had earned her a life sentence behind bars. Fortunately on the third day, when she actually realized where Sly and his sisters were going on her own, Mz. Ruby had confirmed her suspicions by revealing that they were heading after the Panda King. As such she set out to cut them off and capture them, and the Panda King, so she could finally put her main targets behind bars, though at the same time she hadn't seen hide or hair of Sly and his sisters since she arrived in the stronghold, which required her sneaking up from another direction to avoid detection by the Panda King's guards... a lesson she learned after Mesa City, as the guards there had discovered her presence quickly and she adapted accordingly this time around.
The sound of some bottles breaking and the sound of a firework being used caught her attention, to which she smiled as she pointed at the nearby rooftop as the Cooper sibling she was after, Sly himself, walked out of the area that was being covered by the building and walked right out into her crosshairs once more.
"Freeze, raccoon!" Carmelita declared, where she immediately pointed her shock pistol at the rooftop that Sly was standing on, where she was pleased to find that he had paused the moment he spotted her, even if it was more because of her presence and less because she ordered him to stop.
"How can I freeze when my heart warms at the very sight of you?" Sly asked, once more falling into his flirting nature, which was what he did each and every time they crossed paths, though even as he spoke he crossed his arms and stared at her for a few seconds.
"Shut up, ringtail!" Carmelita said, as she knew what Sly was up to, and this time around her mind was focused on him and him alone at the moment, because if she took Sly down she could force his siblings to surrender, "I know why you came here; you came to take out the Panda King, just like you and your sisters did with the other members of the Fiendish Five that you've encountered so far."
"I'd love to stick around and chat, but we've got a meeting with the Panda King soon," Sly replied, knowing that since Carmelita knew why he and his sisters were here there was no reason for him to beat around the bush and explain things to her, as she could likely figure everything else out at this point.
Carmelita opened fire the moment Sly spoke, causing him to latch onto the hook that was near him and rode the line down to the area that was to the left of the dragon statue, to which she jumped to a more appropriate angle and carefully aimed at her target. As Sly moved along the path that was in front of him, smashing bottles along the way, Carmelita fired at him with the intent to knock him out, though she noticed that she was missing more than she would have liked, until she noticed something that would even the odds. She turned towards the stone path that Sly was heading towards and loosed a shock blast that broke the structure apart, effectively trapping Sly, but then he surprised her by using the same move he had displayed back in Mesa City, the one where he jumped on spires, and soon enough he had gotten over her attempt to keep him in one place... to which she growled as she moved into the next area that would allow her a better shot and continued to fire at Sly as he moved around.
She noticed Sly climb up some icicles and struck a firework, one that struck a nearby gate and caused it to fall over, creating a path for him to take in the process, though the act of the gate falling caused Carmelita to stop firing for a moment, as she was shocked by the sheer power of a single firework... though that only gave her more fuel to capture and imprison the Panda King, as she was sure these fireworks were illegal.
After that they arrived in an area where Sly had to hit three fireworks to take out the next gate, where one part of it fell backwards and the other fell forwards, creating a path for him to take as Carmelita tired, still in vain, to strike him down and capture him. As Sly moved into the ruined building that was along the path, and became slightly obscured from her sight, Carmelita focused on where she could see him and fired at the weak windows that were in her way, effectively making him reveal himself in the process, before doing the same thing on the second area that was identical to that one. When the two of them reached the end of the area that Sly had been heading towards, however, he used one of the shield like elevators to get to the roofs he had walked under, to which Carmelita growled as she continued to open fire on him while he made his way back across the roofs. She eventually caught him at an area where he used two more fireworks that struck the ceiling of the area he would have to pass through, where he forced some icicles to drop and created a path that he could take, though as he did so Carmelita opened fire on him and eventually moved further up the dragon statue until she was back where she started.
What she didn't expect, however, was for the tail end of the statue to have multiple fireworks attached to it, as when Sly arrived he whacked them all and they struck the neck of the statue, causing the head to snap off and bury itself in the snow below it... and unfortunately Carmelita soon found herself buried in the freezing snow, and she knew that, by the time she got herself out of the snow, Sly and his sisters would be long gone.
Sly felt bad for Carmelita, he really did, but he was sure that she would forgive him the next time they saw each other, which was why he happily carried his Treasure Key back to where the cluster of fireworks were resting, where he found both Gila and Derpy waiting for him.
"It seems that we have all seven of the Panda King's Treasure Keys," Sly said, where he collected the keys from his sisters and unlocked the locks that were on the cluster in front of them, while at the same time he knew that he would be the only one to ride this thing to their destination, "So, whose up for facing the Panda King?"
"That sounds like a plan," Gilda replied, though as she spoke she noticed something odd, something that needed to be addressed before they moved onto their foe and recovered his section of the Thievius Raccoonus, "Didn't the area you explore have a page of the family tome?"
"I would think it did... if we could have opened the safe," Sly admitted, causing his sisters to look at him for a few seconds, as they were curious as to what he meant by that, and he was going to explain it to them anyway, "According to Bentley, after he looked at the clues, the final page of the Thievius Raccoonus is secured by a number of clues that were written in owl dialect... meaning that, in order to complete the family tome, we'll have to defeat the final member of the Fiendish Five and then come back before the entire thing is complete."
"That's... odd." Derpy said, as it sounded weird for them to have to backtrack in such a way, especially since they had no idea where the final member of the Fiendish Five was located, but at the same time they all knew that the Panda King likely held that information.
"Yeah, you're telling me," Sly said, to which he shook his head and stared at the fireworks for a moment, as he could tell that his sisters were getting anxious for their battle with the Panda King, "Come on, we've got an hour or two before Carmelita climbs out of the snow she was buried in and comes searching for us, so we might as well make the most of our time... and yes, I'll tell you the details when we're back in the van."
Gilda and Derpy nodded as they opened their wings once more, to which Sly prepared himself as he ignited the cluster and latched onto it, where not a few seconds later he flew through the air and headed towards the Panda King's statue, with his sisters flying nearby so they could be sure nothing happened to him. Fortunately nothing happened along the way and he was able to reach his destination swiftly, though as he jumped off the cluster and landed on the ground, along with his sisters joining him, he found that the Panda King seemed to be meditating. Or at least that was what he had been doing, as the moment they all stood up and faced the middle of the area something changed, the Panda King opened his eyes and stopped meditating. He stared down at them for a few seconds, while they stared up at him, and the siblings could see that there was some sorrow that lingered in his eyes for a few seconds, before it disappeared, but they knew what they had seen and realized that, despite his earlier attitude towards the village, he might not be as bad as the three of them originally believed.
"Greetings Sly Cooper, Derpy Cooper, and Gilda Cooper." the Panda King said, to which he carefully picked himself up and stretched for a few seconds, revealing that he must have spent quite some time in his meditation before they had arrived, making them wonder if the messages they had heard were recordings or the real thing.
"Panda King." Sly replied, though as he said the name both he and his sisters readied themselves, as they suspected a trap of some kind, especially since none of the other members they had taken out seemed to have acted like the Panda King, save for Mz. Ruby and her interest in his sisters.
"You are here for the pages of your family tome, and for revenge." the Panda Kind stated, already guessing why they had come here, to which he gestured to the wall behind him, where he had stored his personal vault and the pages he had taken from the book, "They are there."
Sly, Gilda, and Derpy stared at the wall in question and found that the vault was there, though they were shocked to find out that the vault was open and that the pages were definitely there, which caused them to worry that this might be a trap that their foe had cooked up during his time before their arrival.
"That's oddly convenient." Derpy observed, though at the same time she began to think about the village again, and wondered if the people had actually gotten away before the firework had been launched at the mountain, causing the avalanche that they had seen.
"They are yours to take, regardless of how our fight goes," the Panda King said, to which he settled into the first stance of his newly perfected technique, which he called Flame Fu, and flames danced around his hands and his feet, causing Sly's eyes to widen in surprise as both Gilda and Derpy seemed interested, "You have questions regarding what happened all those years ago, and I possess the answers. Show me how much you have grown! Show me your strength, and the power of your hearts! Children cannot stand against the monster you hunt, so show me that you have grown into adults with the will to do what is necessary!"
Sly, Derpy, and Gilda separated from each other the moment the Panda King tossed a flame up from his hands and kicked it towards them, where it struck the wall that they had been standing in front of, though as they did that it appeared that their foe was more prepared for them than they originally thought. At first it seemed to be that he was focusing on Sly, counting Gilda and Derpy as unworthy of his attention, though they were proved wrong as he rapidly changed towards one of them and loosed another fireball, if that was what it was, in their direction. Despite his size it was clear that the Panda King had specifically trained himself to fight multiple people at the same time, because at first it appeared that he was testing their reflects with the one type of attack, though at the same time Derpy felt something stir inside her mind once more... and this time around she wasn't the only one, as Gilda was beginning to see something as well, something that felt strange and familiar to her at the same time.
The Panda King, noticing that the two of them had stalled for a moment, used that opportunity to hurl a ball of flames at them, opening himself to Sly's attacks as he managed to reach the center of the pagoda while he was distracted, but that mattered little to the Panda King as he switched from ranged attacks to melee attacks. As such he started off with his 'Fiery Wheel' technique, which involved flames gathering around one of his hands before he spun on his head like a wheel, in an attempt to knock Sly off his feet. Sly, on the other hand, was much smarter and jumped over the attack as it came his way, though as he descended back towards the floor he used his cane to smack the Panda King several times, where he discovered that a few hits only lightly damaged their foe, as he barely seemed affected by the attack. Once the Panda King was back on his feet he gathered more flames, this time around the hand that was opposite the one he used for 'Fiery Wheel', before raising his hand and declaring 'Booming Chop' as he struck the end of his hand on the ground in front of him, intending to hit Sly in the process.
Sly was unharmed, indicating that he had dodged the attack, though standing in his place was none other than Gilda, though to the Panda King's surprise she had caught his hand with her own hands, where his eyes widened as her eyes revealed an inner power that he had heard about, before Gilda pushed his arm back and spun around. Her kick, aided by the innate energies that she had unlocked for the moment, knocked him backwards and pushed him to the edge of the area he was fighting in, though as he straightened himself he gathered his flames and loosed another fireball, this one twice as big as before, towards his opponents. That was when Derpy, who he had forgotten about for a moment, moved herself between him and Gilda, where she held her hand out and the fireball seemed to stop in it's tracks, though just as surprise flashed on the Panda King's face she forced the attack backwards. The Panda King barely had time to move as his own attack struck him in the chest and threw him into one of the support pillars for the pagoda, breaking it with his weight being thrown against it, before he landed on the floor and coughed... and that was followed by him staring up at the Coopers for a moment, where Sly seemed a tad bit bothered by what his sisters had done, but was pleased with what they were able to do.
The Panda King mentally chuckled for a moment as he rubbed the short part of his chest, as he was going to be feeling that one for the next week at least, before he came to the conclusion that a drawn out battle with these three was not in his best interests... and, despite Sly's lack of powers, he saw a powerful light of hope inside the young raccoon, one that caused him to chuckle.
"So this is what Mz. Ruby meant," the Panda King commented, though at the same time he picked himself up and walked over to the middle of the pagoda, where he sat down and stared at the Cooper siblings for a few seconds, "the three of you are strong, each in your own unique way. Perhaps... perhaps you are strong enough to face Him."
"The last member of the Fiendish Five," Sly said, knowing exactly who the Panda King was referring to, even if they hadn't looked at the part of the police file that pertained to the last member, "Who is he? All Mz. Ruby said was that we'd be facing the true monster of your gang."
"...Clockwerk..." the Panda King replied, though there was something about the way he said the name that caused all three of the siblings to know that the last member was truly evil, and that was all from saying his name.
"C... Clockwerk?" Derpy asked, as while she wasn't afraid of a name, as they had nothing to go on just yet, she couldn't help but feel that they shouldn't underestimate this foe, as he seemed to be the leader of the Fiendish Five, if what they had seen so far was anything to go by.
"An ancient owl, who has replaced nearly his entire body with soulless machinery," the Panda King explained, giving them what he knew about their true enemy, the one he knew that they were prepared to face, even if their battle had been short and sweet, "He has lived for centuries, maybe even thousands of years, with a burning hated for the Cooper Clan, a hatred that has allowed him to live for so long. All those years ago, when we attacked your father, the four of us realized that we had been used as pawns in Clockwerk's game, though he was the only one that truly laid a talon on your father that night. Raleigh and Muggshot buried most of that evening in the depths of their minds, trying to forget what they say, while Mz. Ruby and I knew that one day we would all pay for what Clockwerk had done, and here you three are, standing with the power that might finally destroy him."
"A mechanical owl... that runs on his hatred for a single family," Gilda said, though she sounded disgusted, as she couldn't imagine someone willingly doing such a thing to their body, with the express purpose of wiping out a rival family, or whatever his plans entailed, "I didn't think such a thing was possible."
"Magic and monsters exist in this world," the Panda King commented, referring to the power that Mz. Ruby used all the time, the flames that he had tamed through meditation, the mysterious powers that Gilda and Derpy used against him, and the ancient evil that they stood against, "There isn't much more about Clockwerk that I can tell you, other than the fact that his base is in the Krack-Karov Volcano, which is located in Russia... and, should you go after him, I wish you the best of luck in purge him from this world."
"What did you think would happen when you went after my father?" Sly asked, as that was the one thing that didn't make sense to him, especially since it appeared that four members of the Fiendish Five weren't out to actually kill his father, as only the ancient owl wanted that, and it was the last thing he wanted to ask before they left.
"A few broken bones and the inability to interfere with our plans," the Panda King replied, though he sounded unhappy, which made sense considering what happened next, something that Sly knew all too well, "Like I said, Clockwerk only wanted to kill your father and we were his pawns. Before the police arrived I made sure that you were asleep before gathering a few of your things, including your father's cane, and took you to that orphanage... one where I hoped that you would be able to hide from your family's ancient foe. You found your way to your friends, Murray and Bentley, as well as your sisters, Gilda and Derpy, and learned the skills necessary to assist you on the final leg of your journey, by defeating four members of our group in battle. Perhaps the key to finally beating Clockwerk is inside the three of you."
Sly had the feeling that there was a lot more about what Clockwerk had done to his father that the Panda King didn't want him to know about, but just knowing that this one person, this ancient owl, had hated his family line for so long and turned his body into a soulless machine told him enough. Gilda and Derpy, on the other hand, moved over to the Panda King's vault and claimed the pages stored within, which belonged to their technically minded ancestor Otto van Cooper, who relied on vehicles to aid him in his endeavors. It also came with his plans for some upgrades that they could add to the van, once Bentley went over them anyway, so Sly left the calling card before turning to leave, though ad Derpy and Gilda took to the air he glanced at the Panda King for a few seconds, to see if there was anything else he wanted to tell them before they left. When he remained silent Sly let Gilda lift him up and soon enough the three of them were heading back to the van so they could leave the stronghold before Carmelita showed up.
They all knew that this Clockwerk was going to be the toughest opponent they had ever faced, especially since he had been alive for such a long period of time, though whether they were truly ready to face such a hateful enemy remained to be seen.
After defeating the Panda King, and learning what he knew about the mysterious Clockwerk, Sly and his sisters landed by the van and climbed into the back, allowing Murray to drive off while Sly let Bentley look at the plans that Otto van Cooper had created, so they could modify the van in the future. Fortunately it appeared that the modifications were easy to make, provided they had the necessary components to make the battering ram and turret that were the focus of the pages, but Bentley informed them that they could make the items in no time. Of course that meant they had to go somewhere to find the pieces, though oddly enough Hong Kong, where Sly had been planning on visiting for their time to relax after they dealt with the Panda King's forces, was the exact place where they could gather the components necessary for them to make the new battering ram and the turret.
Upon arriving in Hong Kong, and parking the van in yet another abandoned building they happened to find, complete with some decent tools for their needs, Bentley gave Sly a list of components and sent him out to get them, while at the same time offering nothing to Gilda and Derpy. There was a reason for that, as when he heard the tale of their fight with the Panda King, and how they had managed to do something to turn the tide of battle against him, he remembered Derpy's fight with Mz. Ruby. Despite the fact that his mind told him that neither of the sisters had powers, regardless of what the last two members of the Fiendish Five said, he wanted to see if either of them could do anything that proved him wrong, even if he had to rethink his understanding of the world to do so. Unfortunately both of the sisters discovered that whatever power they had used to defeat Mz. Ruby and the Panda King either didn't want to come out, despite the various tests that Bentley wanted to do, or it was simply triggered on demand... like if their lives were being threatened or something, and since Bentley was their friend none of his small tests worked.
Eventually Sly returned with the components and they all got to work building the new battering ram, which they carefully installed when it was completed, and hooked in the turret, which would replace the dish on the roof of the van when they wanted to use the turret.
In order to test these new toys out Murray had to drive the van further away from civilization, allowing him the chance to use the battering ram to smash boulders and the stray bits of metal apart, while at the same time Sly climbed onto the turret and used it on some larger rocks nearby, breaking one apart before he determined that the weapon worked as it was supposed to. As they practiced with the new items Sly realized that the Panda King must have known something about Clockwerk's base, specifically why he had taken the part of the Thievius Raccoonus containing Otto van Cooper's plans and deeds. It still seemed odd that each member of the Fiendish Five had the pages that would help them with the next member in the group, but right now he wasn't about to complain about the situation, not when it had worked in their favor and would do so again. Sly also let Gilda and Derpy practice with the turret for a few minutes, just so they got a feeling for the new toy they had acquired, before they decided that it was time for them to leave, where he converted the turret back to the dish that was usually in it's place... though once that was done they headed out on the road and started the long journey to their final destination; the Krack-Karov Volcano.
Of course they had to stop multiple times over their journey, but during one of their stops Sly claimed a newspaper that revealed that Carmelita had captured the Panda King, which wasn't a surprise considering what happened between them, and that she had an idea where the final member of the Fiendish Five was located. That wasn't good news, because if Clockwerk was as smart as the Panda King said he was, and had done his homework, Carmelita was the perfect bait to lure Sly into a trap when they reached his lair. There was one other thing that Sly determined along the way to the Krack-Karov Volcano, as he had looked at the pages of the Thievius Raccoonus, to see if his ancestors had written anything about the ancient owl, and found that several of the pictures had the silhouette of a large owl in the background. He quickly determined that the silhouettes had to be Clockwerk, confirming the Panda King's story that the leader of the Fiendish Five was an ancient owl who had been hunting his family throughout the entirety of their existence, or at least since the days of Slytunkhamen Cooper I.
This confirmation did nothing for Sly, his sisters, Bentley, or even Murray, as they all knew that they were going to be facing a creature of unspeakable evil, a being that survived for thousands of years on nothing but hatred... to which they prepared themselves for their arrival at his base, and whatever he had in store for them.
It took them some time to reach the front part of Clockwerk's base of operations, just like it did with the last four members of the Fiendish Five, but this time around things were different, as they were able to approach the large gate that served as the entrance without having to fight through anything or collect any keys. It would have been a nice change of pace had they been up against someone like Muggshot or Mz. Ruby, but with their foe being the mysterious Clockwerk, who had a vendetta against the Cooper Clan, it was like he was challenging them. Sly, knowing that they had to get by the gate, pressed the button that switched the dish for the turret and let the turret move into position, though once that was done he climbed up to it and took his place in the seat that would allow him to move and fire at whatever was waiting for them on the other side of the gate. While he did that Murray made sure that they were well prepared for the trek ahead, Bentley prepared his computer in case he needed to hack into something, and both Gilda and Derpy stood beside him as he prepared himself.
"One more member and we're done." Gilda commented, causing everyone to look at her for a moment, though Derpy was the first one to understand what she was talking about, as she nodded her head in agreement, "One more member and we will have defeated the Fiendish Five, claimed nearly all the pages of the Thievius Raccoonus, and avenged the life that Clockwerk took all those years ago."
"Yeah..." Sly said, where he let out a sigh as he remembered why they, why he, was going through all of this for a few seconds, before he steeled himself and tapped the turret, "Murray, is the van ready to go?"
"We're all set Sly," Murray replied, though while the fact that they were going up against an ancient owl, who lived off a diet of hatred, was running through his mind he knew that Sly and his sisters would be more than enough to take out their target, just like the other members of the Fiendish Five.
"Okay, then let's get this show on the road," Sly stated, to which his sisters nodded their heads and headed into the van, as if they flew around the area they would be moving targets and might get hit in the process, though they were sure that they would be able to assist Sly in some manner in the future.
Once everyone was in place, and Sly was absolutely sure about that, he fired up the turret and aimed at the lock on the large gate that was in front of them, where he loosed a bullet at it and tore the lock apart, which opened the entire gate and allowed Murray to start driving forward. As the gate fully opened Murray found an alarming number of mines lining the path in front of them, to which Sly directed his turret fire on the mines and caused them all to detonate before the van reached any of them. As they rounded the corner a few seconds later Gilda and Derpy, as well as Sly, Murray, and Bentley, got a good view of an owl-shaped tower, one that Bentley claimed that Clockwerk happened to be waiting on, meaning they knew where their target was. That was followed by Murray moving the van onto a narrow path that put them above a large pool of lava, meaning that if they fell off the edge they would all die before they were able to react, and, as if that wasn't enough, hostile robo-falcons flew through the air and demanded their attention. Sly, seeing them coming, turned the turret on the flying robots and shot them out of the sky, making sure that they did nothing to the van while Murray carefully drove along the path.
The instant that Sly was done with the group of robotic falcons the tower powered up and revealed that it wasn't just a tower, rather it was a death ray that tore into the nearby hill and loosed a group of boulders that were threatening to knock the van off the path and into the lava... where Sly fired at all of them and tore them apart as fast as he could, preserving the safety of his friends and family in the process.
Once the boulders were taken care of Murray turned to the left and more robotic falcons swooped in to attack them, where Sly opened fire and tore them to pieces, letting the fragments fall into the lava around them while he made sure that none of them reached the van. After that came two smaller areas of mines, with a little separation between them, though as Sly tore the first group apart he noticed that Clockwerk had fired the death beam at the boulders that were behind the second set of mines. Murray, seeing them coming, stopped the van and let Sly tear both the mines and the boulders to pieces, making sure that the van was safe, before he started moving forward again, though that was when Sly had to target yet another group of robotic falcons. Fortunately Sly was a great shot and tore the third group of robotic falcons to pieces, all of them, and soon enough the group was taken care of, though as he noticed that they were heading towards a cave, which the turret wouldn't fit in, he jumped back into the van and lowered the turret back into the place where it was kept... though he waited for them to get to an area with a higher roof before allowing the dish to take it's rightful place once more.
When they entered the next area, one that appeared to be some sort of pit that had lava around the exterior of the central part and didn't touch the ramp in front of them, or the path leading towards the doorway on the other side of the cavern they were in, but Sly smiled as he noticed the computers that were hanging from the ceiling.
"We need to get through that security door," Bentley told them, beckoning to the gate that everyone was interested in, though at the same time Gilda and Derpy glanced up at the computers and wondered what they were going to do about those, "and the only way to unlock it is to analyze at least sixty of those hanging computers."
"Then let's use the turret and blast them to pieces," Derpy said, as she knew that they could overcome the challenge that was in front of them with the tool they gained from Otto van Cooper, thus allowing them to ignore the lava slug creatures that happened to be in the chamber around them.
"I'm afraid that we can't do that," Bentley stated, to which he pointed at the icon that used the battering ram that was installed in the front of the van, or more accurately the Cooper sign that was on the very front of the grill, "the computers are designed to yield their data to someone that either runs them over, like we'll have to, or be consumed by the slugs that happen to be guarding this area."
"Which means that this is up Murray's alley," Gilda commented, as she understood what they needed to do, where Sly nodded his understanding, before she turned towards Murray, who was staring at the computers and the slugs that were crawling along the ground, "Murry, let loose and show those slugs whose boss."
Murray grinned as he put the van in the necessary gear and surged forward, descending into the circular area of the chamber that the slugs were patrolling, though as Bentley hacked into the computers and made them fall he used the battering ram to smash the slugs away and ran into the computers that were in his way. While that happened both Gilda and Derpy wondered if there was anything for them to do other than watch their friend get them closer to Clockwerk, but at the very least Murray proved that he was great behind the wheel and made sure that he scored more of the computers than the slugs could consume. Sly and his sisters watched as Murray smashed the slugs into the lava, knocking them unconscious for a few moments at best, with the battering ram and made sure to grab what Bentley needed, who was keeping track of the number of computers that he was collecting... until the point where Murray claimed the last computer that Bentley needed so he could open the security door that was blocking their path.
The moment that Murray heard that news, and that it was now time for Sly, Gilda, and Derpy to enter the control room for the death ray tower, he headed through the now opened door and found a spot where he could let the siblings off, though while they did that he was determined to find his way to another area so he could be of assistance to them in the near future. Sly and his sisters, however, moved forward and headed into the control room, where they found a few searchlights moving around the area, metallic turrets that would shoot at them the instant they touched the metal floor in front of them, and a number of areas that appeared to involve some of their techniques... and, in the far chamber from where they were standing, was a chamber that contained a captive Carmelita Fox.
"Carmelita!" Sly gasped, as while he and his sisters knew that the Inspector had been closely following them, all the way from Paris and tracked them to each of the hideouts for the four members of the Fiendish Five they had taken out earlier, it was strange for her to beat them to their next target like this.
"She's trapped!" Derpy said, realizing that Carmelita was locked inside some sort of sturdy casing that kept her trapped in the middle of the chamber she was in, though she knew that all three of them realized what they were staring at before they even took a step forward.
"And this is, without a doubt, a trap." Gilda added, as the walls of the chamber looked like video screens of some kind, one that Clockwerk was likely going to use to gloat at whoever triggered the trap, and yet at the same time she knew exactly what was coming next.
"It looks like there's a barrel nearby that one of us can use to get..." Sly started to say, though that was when Gilda and Derpy opened their wings and maneuvered themselves to the other side of the chamber, where Derpy turned off the alarm and Gilda smashed the dart machines, allowing him to walk over to them with ease, "...right... I forgot you two had wings for a moment, and that this sort of thing is easy for you to take care of."
Gilda and Derpy grinned for a moment as the three of them entered the chamber that Carmelita was in, though as they did so the part of the chamber they had walked through raised into place and trapped them all in the same chamber, confirming that this was a trap... and green gas was starting to pour into the chamber.
"Sentimental fools!" a voice said, to which the siblings watched as a shadowy image appeared on all of the screens around them, confirming that Clockwerk was coming to gloat like they thought he would, "Empathy has always been the downfall of the Cooper Clan. Had your father been willing to focus more on his own safety, than be concerned for your well-being, he could have beaten all five of us all those years ago, but he chose his fate. Had you been willing to leave this woman to her fate, you and your siblings might have been able to stand a chance against me, but now the three of you will... be..."
The only reason Clockwerk was stalling in his gloating was because there was something strange happening inside the gas chamber, as it appeared that the griffin's eyes were glowing for some reason, though as he watched he noticed that a spherical field of some kind was being generated by the griffin. It was as if the wind or the air had been bent to her will, as it was somehow keeping the gas from reaching her and her siblings, causing him to growl as he realized that Mz. Ruby must have done something to the griffin. It ruined his chances to defeat the current Coopers, at least at the moment, though before he could even say anything about his targets having something akin to the Devil's own luck, as all of the members of the Cooper Clan were that way, the vents shut off and the gas stopped pouring into the chamber. As that happened the glow in the griffin's eyes faded and she huffed for a few moments, indicating that she might be weakened from he efforts, but instead of saying anything he disconnected from the screens and vanished.
Sly, on the other hand, turned his cane towards the base of Carmelita's case and smashed it, which caused the entire thing to crack and break, freeing her from her prison and caused her to look at the three of them for a moment, before she turned around and blasted the door to pieces... to which the four of them headed through the opening and headed through the tunnel that was in front of them, where they came out in a large power station of some kind.
"I don't get it, Cooper." Carmelita said, causing all three of the siblings to turn towards her, despite the fact that they knew she was actually talking to Sly and not either Gilda or Derpy, "I've hunted you and your sisters for years, tried to throw the lot of you behind bars... but when you get a chance to leave me in a cage, you set me free... why?"
"Carmelita, we may be on opposite sides of the law but you're not our enemy." Sly replied, though at the same time he pointed at the death ray that was staring down at them, the very one that they were interested in destroying, and the entire group stared at it for a moment, "Now the homicidal robotic owl that built this death ray and tried to gas us to death... that guy's been on our list since we left Paris!
"I see your point." Carmelita commented, as she had read the file and knew the details involving the death of Sly's father, and more importantly who had caused such a terrible event to occur, "Alright, until Clockwerk and his evil schemes are destroyed, I suggest we work together."
"Together at last!" Sly cheered, though before anyone else could say anything he spotted a robotic falcon coming their way and and jumped into the air so he could smack it, but as he did so he found that his cane did absolutely nothing, only for the robotic falcon to snatch his cane and fly off with it, where Carmelita blasted it the moment she locked onto it, "That cane's been in our family for generations!"
"Calm down ringtail, you've got two people that'll help you recover it in seconds," Carmelita said, where she pointed at Gilda and Derpy, who smiled as they spread their wings again, indicating that they could bypass everything and get Sly up to his cane in moments, "While you're doing that I'm going to tear apart some of these machines and see if I can't destroy Clockwerk's death ray from down here. However, once we take out Clockwerk I'm going to be coming after all three of you... though maybe I'll give you a ten second head start. And, if you reach the top of the death ray, be sure to pick up my jetpack that I left behind when I got grabbed earlier... it might help you against your foe."
Sly grinned as he considered what he could do with those ten seconds, though instead of saying anything he let Gilda and Derpy grab onto him before carrying him through the air, where he heard the sounds of Carmelita firing at the various power sources that were in front of her. It didn't take them long to reach the area that his cane had fallen to, though once it was back in his hands, and his sisters were ready, the three of them drew closer to the heart of the volcano, where they would figure out what to do with the death ray, claim Carmelita's jetpack, and then face off with the leader of the Fiendish Five... and then avenge all the people that Clockwerk had killed over the course of his existence, including Sly's father.
Sly, Gilda, and Derpy stared at the large death ray the moment they finished walking up the path that had been near the area the robotic falcon had dropped Sly's cane, after Carmelita shot it, and knew that this thing had to be destroyed, but based on what they were seeing it didn't appear that they could break it from where they were standing. Fortunately Sly was able to find the exact location of Carmelita's jetpack, which was where she said it would be, though the route he needed to take involved climbing up the side of the death ray. He knew that Gilda and Derpy could easily fly up there, and take him with them if he so desired, but at the moment he felt like climbing, especially after his sisters had carried him up to his cane and prevented him from being covered by Carmelita. They also had no idea how much damage destroying the power area, which by the sounds of it Carmelita was still tearing to pieces with her shock pistol, would cause to the tower, but he was hoping that nothing disastrous happened.
"I'm going to make a break for the jetpack," Sly said, causing his sisters to look at him for a moment, though while Derpy looked concerned for his safety Gilda seemed shocked that he wanted to take the hard way this time, "I know, it's the hard way, but constantly taking the easy way is going to make me a lazy thief."
"Then we'll follow close behind you and make sure you don't fall into the lava," Gilda replied, because she knew that when her brother wanted to run and stretch his legs, and not fly with her and Derpy, it was safer to let him have his way and simply watch over him.
"You'd better hurry Sly," Bentley spoke up, causing the siblings to raise their binocucoms for a moment, as this sounded important based on their friend's tone, while at the same time they were thankful he had quickly hacked into Clockwerk's defenses and shut off the gas chamber, "Carmelita's shots have destroyed the magnatronic support field for the death ray, which means that it's going to start falling apart soon."
"Right." Sly said, though that was when he put away his binocucom and used the power line that was in front of him, which was no longer powered thanks to what Carmelita had been doing, and slide down to the next one in line, while at the same time Gilda and Derpy took to the air.
Gilda and Derpy watched as Sly made his way down the second power line, jumped onto the rock that it brought him to, and then transferred himself to a third power line that connected to the base of the death ray, though as he touched the rock the entire structure shook and the two of them moved close so they could keep a better eye on their brother. Sly, instead of being worried about the lava that the death ray was sinking into, hopped onto the power line that was nearby and started walking along it, though he had to pause when he reached a device that channeled electricity between two points and created a wall that blocked his path. Fortunately that only happened for a few seconds and he was able to move on without much of a delay, though the next obstacle he had to overcome was jumping onto a small platform and then using the trio of hooks that were in front of him to cross over to the other side of the death ray... where his luck continued, as a section of the death ray broke off and fell in front of him, creating a small platform for him to walk on as he found the next power line that would allow him to move forward.
After bypassing a second power conduit, where he waited for the electric wall to go away, he continued over the open area and smashed his way through the gears that fell in his way, surprising him by the fact that they were so brittle when he considered what machine they were in. From there he had to jump onto a moving gear, using the Ninja Spire Jump, and rode the point to his next destination, which happened to be a short power line that brought him to a platform with a power conduit. He waited for a few seconds before the wall was down and then jumped onto the power line that was in front of him, where he had to jump and use his momentum a few times to reach the other side of the death ray again, where he found it odd that he was constantly going back and forth between the two sides, but he wasn't about to complain at the moment. At the other end of the power line another piece of the death ray snapped off and fell into place, creating another platform for him, though as he used that to latch onto the metal pipe that was in front of him, and bypassed the power conduit that was in his way, he wondered if Clockwerk purposely designed the death ray to be like this, or if this was just random chance.
The thought of Clockwerk building a death ray, so that when it started to fall apart the pieces would form a number of platforms for him to take so he could continue forward, seemed strange and unlikely, but then he had to remember what he had seen in Mz. Ruby's place and the Panda King's stronghold... to which he sighed as he continued forward, as there would be a time and a place for such thoughts after he and his sisters completed their mission.
The next part of his obstacle course involved him using the Ninja Spire Jump to cross over some spires that were spinning in front of him, and happened to be attached to some electrical circuit of some kind, but he managed to get over them quickly and started climbing the pipe on the other side. After bypassing the power conduit that was in his way another part of the death ray came undone and revealed another platform he could stand on, one that allowed him to patiently wait for a second or two before jumping towards the device that was in front of him. He had to do that three more times, as he had to wait for the two heads of each device to connect, and pass electricity between them, before he could make his jump to the next one in line, though he was pleased when he came to another fallen metal platform. From there he latched onto the pipe that was in front of him and carefully bypassed the three power conduits that were in his way, reaching the top of the death ray as Gilda and Derpy circled overhead... to which he rushed over to the jetpack, strapped himself into it, and took to the skies, while at the same time noticing that Carmelita's toy came equipped with some guns that he could fire.
As Sly rose up to where his sisters were waiting, and watched as the death ray was nearly fully consumed by the lava around them, something else rose up with him, as a large mechanical owl, riding the thermal vents in the area, appeared before them in all his sinister glory... allowing the three of them to see that the Panda King's tale was true, every part of Clockwerk's body appeared to have been replaced by metal.
Sly Cooper, Clockwerk said, his voice echoing from the metallic frame that was his body, while at the same time his golden eyes flashed red as he talked, which had to represent his hate, you have escaped my gas chamber and destroyed my death ray. Remarkable. You Coopers always find a way to beat me!
"So I was right, that was you in all those pictures of the Thievius Raccoonus," Sly replied, though at the same time he prepared himself as both of his sisters flew up beside him, their canes at the ready, even though they knew that such weapons would have no effect on their opponent's body, if the robotic falcon Sly attacked earlier was any indication, "How old are you?"
Perfection has no age. Clockwerk answered immediately, almost as if he had been asked the question many times in the past and knew the answer by heart, or rather had it programmed into whatever was left of his brain, My hatred for your entire clan has allowed me to transcend the ravages of time, and has put me firmly beyond death's grasp. Revenge is the prime ingredient in the fountain of youth. I've kept myself alive for hundreds of years with a steady diet of jealousy and hate, awaiting the day when I would finally eclipse your family's thieving reputation.
"And then what?" Derpy asked, as she was curious was to what sort of diabolical plans the robotic owl could have for after he destroyed the Cooper Clan, which meant he was going to try and kill all three of them, "What will you do after you have defeated us?"
I shall ravage this world and leave behind a legacy that will never be forgotten. Clockwerk stated, indicating that, once he had beaten them and had no more Coopers to hate, he'd lose what was powering his body and likely attack the world as a whole, which only made the siblings want to defeat him even more than they already did.
"Sly!" Carmelita called out over their communications, where Gilda and Derpy spotted her standing near the edge of the heart of the volcano, where she was aiming at Clockwerk and not at them, "The guns on the jetpack aren't strong enough to do anything to his armor, and the blasts from my shock pistol can't damage his insides... but they do create small holes in his armor."
Sly nodded his head, as he understood what Carmelita was saying, and he moved away from Clockwerk, who gave chase and started firing purple energy balls from certain points of his body, which were no doubt fueled by the hate that coursed through his metallic body. Since he had to wait for Carmelita to line up a shot, and reveal a weak point, he kept his fingers off the triggers and simply dodged the incoming balls that Clockwerk was firing at him, while at the same time Gilda and Derpy attempted to scratch his back and wings with their canes. As they were able to determine, with just a glance at the metallic body, their canes were useless in this situation and, since they hadn't actually unlocked any of the powers that Mz. Ruby had told them about, they were next to worthless in this fight. Still, they did the best that they could and tried to distract Clockwerk, which wasn't hard considering that they were Coopers as well and he wanted all of them to be destroyed, even if they weren't raccoons like Sly was. Eventually Carmelita lined up her shot and blasted Clockwerk in the face, allowing Sly to open fire on his target and dealt some damage to him, though even then it was hard to tell how much he had done.
Naturally since they assumed that Clockwerk was only interested in firing purple balls at them, which all of them knew to avoid since they looked like they would hurt a lot if they were hit, but they failed to account for the other weapons that owls were naturally born with and had been upgraded when Clockwerk forged this new body. They were given a reminder of that fact when Derpy, who flew a little too close to their foe at one point while she was looking for a weakness she and Gilda could take advantage of, was attacked by Clockwerk, who reached out with his talons as she started to pull herself away from him. Unfortunately she wasn't fast enough, as Clockwerk's talons managed to make contact with her face, or more accurately her right eye, as she felt three sharp talons cut into her skin as one of her eyes went dark, while at the same time she screamed. Fortunately the feeling of the talons didn't last too long, as Carmelita and Sly blasted Clockwerk backwards with another opening they had exploited, though as she started to fall Gilda flew over to her and caught her, before touching down near where Carmelita was standing... which also happened to be where Murray had parked the van, while keeping him and Bentley out of Clockwerk's sight.
Gilda looked at her wounded and crying sister for a moment, seeing the three perfectly straight slashes that ran from above her right eye to below her right eye, and knew what had to have happened, Clockwerk had taken one of Derpy's eyes from her... and the fact that Clockwerk had wounded two of her siblings, one mentally and one physically, made something inside her snap, to which little strands of red energy started to gather around her as her inner power finally found an outlet.
"Gilda, you should sit this out," Bentley said, though he had carefully walked over to where Derpy was resting, but he tried not to puke when he saw what happened to her face, and used what little tools they had to cover up the right side of her head and stop the bleeding, "Sly's got this... and then we'll need to take Derpy to a hospital or something."
That was followed by the sound of Sly blasting Clockwerk out of the air, as the fourth attack Carmelita lined up tore of the plating off of one of his wings and caused him to crash into the magma, though before anyone could celebrate the ancient owl surged back out into the open and focused on his target.
"I don't get it. You're so familiar with my family, you must have known my father had a son." Sly commented, directing his statement to his opponent, while at the same time everyone else, those that were paying attention, merely listened in for a few seconds, "If you hated the Coopers so much, why did you let me live when you killed my father? You must have known that I was somewhere inside the house when you and your 'gang' attacked."
I knew you were there. Clockwerk stated, revealing that he knew about Sly's existence, despite what the Panda King thought when the events of that night played out, I intentionally left you alive, because I wanted to show the world that without your precious book, the Cooper line was nothing.
"And that's the mistake that the vast majority of our foes have made," Sly said, as he, Derpy, and Gilda knew the truth of the matter, and he was sure that, if Clockwerk was as smart as he was supposed to be, he had likely figured that out by now and was still trying to reject the reality of the situation, "The Thievius Raccoonus doesn't create great thieves, rather the great thieves of the Cooper Clan made the book what it is."
Enough, Sly Cooper! Clockwerk stated, indicating that he was growing tired of this conversation, as he happened to be preparing some new attacks to use against him when the next round of combat started, It ends here. I'll finish you, and your siblings, like I finished your father. Then the Cooper line will be erased...
Before Clockwerk could finish his statement, and proclaim that he would be the only surviving master thief once the Coopers were destroyed, he noticed something odd, the entire area around the heart of the volcano was starting to shake, but that was impossible since he had determined an earthquake wouldn't happen here for many years. A few seconds ticked by before he turned his gaze over towards the griffin that had grabbed the wounded pegasus, where bits of rock seemed to be floating in the air around her as a faint red aura surrounded her body. What was even stranger was that the pegasus was now sporting a similar aura as well, though her's appeared to be a faint light blue color that seemed to dance about like electricity or lightning, while the griffin's moved like the wind itself. Based on what he had seen in the gas chamber he knew that these two had powers, even if they were untapped by their lack of familiarity with them, but that didn't mean he should underestimate them.
The was, of course, until the griffin turned around and swung her wing in Clockwerk's direction, though since she was so far away he didn't even consider moving, but that turned out to be a bad idea as the wind itself turned against him and cut several small gashes into his plating, surprising him and everyone that was watching.
"CLOCKWERK!" Gilda shouted, her voice full of rage and anger at the moment, while at the same time Sly and the others flinched when they heard her, as they had never seen Gilda like this before, though she was focusing on one individual at the moment, "I WON'T FORGIVE YOU FOR HURTING MY SISTER!"
The red aura around Gilda intensified as she burst into the air and raced towards where Clockwerk was flapping his wings, to which Sly and Carmelita's eyes widened as Gilda slammed her right fist into the side of the mechanical owl's head, staggering him in the process while leaving a small imprint of her fist in the side of his head. Before Clockwerk even had a chance to recover Gilda went on the offensive, slamming her fists, which Sly could see were covered in the same strange aura that was wrapped around the rest of her body, into Clockwerk's body with the intent to hurt him. After that it became a contest of sorts, as Gilda flew around the heart of the volcano, chasing down Clockwerk, who fired at her every now and then, only to watch as she avoided the attacks he sent at her before Gilda crossed the distance and struck her target again. While all of that was happening Carmelita tried to get another blast off, so she might open a weakness that would severely damage the mechanical owl, but for the most part it appeared that Gilda either got in the way or moved her target, making it impossible to hit Clockwerk again.
Of course as she tried that she noticed that the clouds above them seemed to be darkening, as if a storm was coming, but that was before she noticed that Derpy was standing once more and her lone eye was fixed on Clockwerk, though even she had to back up when she saw the intense anger that was inside Derpy's eye, as it wasn't something that anyone had ever seen before today. Lightning danced around her right hand, which she raised into the air, and Carmelita watched as the clouds responded by rumbling a few times while she noticed flashes of lightning appear inside the darkened clouds, but Derpy's eye was focused on the ancient owl. A few moments later, when Gilda was pushed away from Clockwerk at long last, Derpy swung her hand towards Clockwerk and a bolt of lightning, easily the width of one of the owl's plating on his wings, tore out of the sky before barreling into Clockwerk's body... where all of the weaknesses Carmelita had seen earlier, when she was captured, appeared in all their glory as the lightning stunned the owl.
"Sly! Tear him apart!" Derpy shouted, though she remained in the position she was in, indicating that she had to be channeling the power of the storm into Clockwerk's body, keeping him stunned.
Sly, seeing this happen, nodded his head as he started to open fire on Clockwerk, allowing the rockets from the jetpacks guns to punch new holes in Clockwerk's plating and dealt an incredible amount of damage to the owl's insides, as he was sure that parts were flying off of him. While he did that Gilda came to a stop near him and started loosing balls, much like the ones Mz. Ruby and the Panda King used against them, that raced through the air and slammed into Clockwerk's body. A few moments later their combined attacks tore the robotic owl apart, as the pieces of his body went flying as they dropped into the magma around them, though before Sly left he and Gilda, accompanied by an angry Derpy who flew in once her lightning wasn't needed, found Clockwerk's head and smashed it as well, to stop him from regenerating his body. As that happened Clockwerk promised them that they hadn't seen the last of him, which was followed by them breaking him apart until his eyes stopped glowing, indicating that he was either dead... and no one wanted to think about there being a second possibility.
Sly opened his mouth to say something, but before he could do so he noticed that the auras that Gilda and Derpy had faded as quickly as they had arrived, though as they started to stagger Gilda caught herself and grabbed onto her sister, who weakly smiled at her as the three of them returned to the van... though as they landed, and Bentley tended to Derpy's wound as best he could, Derpy spotted a small computer chip, about the size of her pointer finger, resting nearby. Oddly enough it had a glowing blue light in it, though she smiled as she picked it up and slipped it into her pocket, knowing that Clockwerk didn't need it anymore. At the same time Sly found the page that Clockwerk had stolen, taken from the fragment of the owl's body that hadn't landed in the magma, but this time he didn't bother to read it, not where there were more pressing matters on his mind... the final missing page, back in the Panda King's stronghold, and his sister's wound, which he was more interested in tending to at the moment.
Of course as his friends helped Derpy into the van, so they could get ready for their departure, there was someone else he needed to finish his business with, to which he turned away from Clockwerk's body, which didn't appear to be in the process of melting, and turned towards Carmelita... who looked unsure of what to do at the moment.
"Something wrong Inspector?" Sly asked, though at the same time he slipped Clockwerk's section of the Thievius Raccoonus into the binding, keeping them with the other pages they had recovered, before focusing his entire attention on Carmelita, who had her shock pistol pointed his way.
"I'm conflicted between duty and what is right," Carmelita said, where she glanced at the van for a moment, recalling the wound that Clockwerk had inflicted on Derpy before both she and Gilda snapped, before she turned her attention back towards Sly, "Duty says that I should try and attempt to capture you, since you and the rest of your gang are criminals... and yet doing the right thing would mean letting you leave without doing that, since one of you is injured."
"I think I can help with that decision," Sly commented, though as he said that he stepped forward and caused Carmelita to really focus on him, but that didn't stop him from approaching her anyway, where he eventually pulled her into a passionate kiss that caused Carmelita to melt for a few seconds.
Sly would have loved to stay longer, though the moment Carmelita was more focused on what she was feeling he disengaged from her, ran over to the van and climbed in, before they departed from the area, where the sound of the tires caused Carmelita to snap out of her confusion for a moment and realized what he had meant... though by the time she turned around Murray was already taking them away from the volcano and back to civilization, where they would disappear like they did after every heist.
"I'll get you next time, ringtail." Carmelita said, though at the same time she noticed that Sly had never even once considered using her own cuffs against her, as they were still in her back pocket, because he was so worried about his sister and the fact that her right eye was gone.
Maybe there might actually be something between her and Sly, a relationship that the raccoon had been trying to coax into existence since they first encountered each other, though Carmelita sighed as she figured out what to write in her report... and then it was back to hunting the Coopers once more.
After defeating Clockwerk, and securing his fragment of the Thievius Raccoonus, Sly insisted on taking Derpy to a hospital, one that catered to both sides of the law, as the doctors didn't tend to care which side their patients were on and he couldn't take his sister to a hospital that would turn them over to Carmelita and her buddies. There wasn't much he could do in this situation, as no one in the van really had any medical experience, save for the little that Bentley had used to help Derpy when she was wounded, so they needed an actual doctor to see what the extent of Clockwerk's final act was. As he thought about that he turned towards the back of the van, where Gilda was sitting next to Derpy and was carefully tending to the cuts that had been carved into her face, as one thing that Clockwerk took was their sister's right eye. Derpy, on the other hand, was resting as Murray drove the van away from the volcano that they had fought the terrible leader of the Fiendish Five at, putting as much distance as they could between them and that place.
It also gave him the chance to think about what Mz. Ruby had told his sisters back when they fought her in Haiti, as the voodoo priestess had said that both Gilda and Derpy had powers of their own and that they needed to experience some sort of event to trigger the awakening of their abilities. Sly had no idea that Clockwerk would have been the key to his sisters gaining their abilities, nor did he have any idea that Gilda's power was over the wind itself and Derpy appeared to channel the power of the storm itself. After fighting the Panda King, who appeared to use something that was akin to the magic that Mz. Ruby, Gilda, and even Derpy used, he had to admit that there was definitely magic in this world and that his sisters were bearers of that power. This was a lot to take in and he could tell that he wasn't the only one thinking about it, as Murray occasionally glanced back at Gilda and Derpy while he was driving and Bentley was making notes on how Sly's sisters might have acquired the power they now commanded... and Sly was sure that Carmelita was likely thinking about what she had seen earlier, which was what he was doing.
Gilda had slammed her fist into Clockwerk's metal face and left a dent in it, despite the fact that they had no idea what sort of metal his body had been made out of, and Derpy had summoned a bolt of lightning that stalled Clockwerk where he was flying, giving him the time to destroy the enemy of the Cooper Clan... but he was fortunate that he hadn't lost either of his sisters in the process, otherwise he would have vented so much more anger out on the metallic body they had torn to pieces.
"The bleeding's stopped," Gilda said, to which she sighed as she leaned back in her seat, as she insisted on sitting near Derpy for a few hours before she switched with either Bentley or Sly, before she collected the bloody tissues and similar items and stuffed them into an empty trash can, "and I put a small towel over her eye, just in case one of those cuts decides to open while we're heading back to civilization. At least Derpy's sleeping at the moment... I can't imagine the pain she's in, of having one of her eyes damaged in such a manner, but at least the awakening of her powers has drained her so she can peacefully slumber for a few hours."
"And what about you?" Sly asked, causing his sister to turn towards him for a moment, where he could still see the anger in her eyes, the anger that had been directed at Clockwerk earlier, but he was relieved to see that her anger was starting to cool off, "You awakened your inner power as well, just like Mz. Ruby said that you and Derpy would do at some point in time... so what will you do?"
"I... I don't know." Gilda admitted, though as she answered the question she glanced over at her sister and ran a hand through her hair, allowing herself some time to actually think about what she wanted to do before they reached civilization and headed to the hospital that Murray was heading towards, "Maybe... maybe I'll fly to the Panda King's stronghold and see if I can't find the vault that we didn't get while we were there. It'll give me some time to clear my head and stop thinking about the anger that I feel inside my heart."
Sly knew how Gilda felt, since he had been angry with the Fiendish Five for the loss of his father and everything that happened after that fateful night, but it had allowed him to meet Gilda, Derpy, Bentley, and Murray in the first place, where they had formed a bond that wasn't easily broken. He was sure that heading back to China could wait until Derpy was stable and ready to move again, but he wasn't about to stop Gilda from doing what she wanted, not when she needed to come to terms with the fact that she now had magical abilities. As such he remained silent for the part of the trip that they were on, where he sat beside his sisters and stared at Derpy while she slept, while Gilda eventually moved away and started talking with Bentley about the combination for the vault and any supplies she could take with her for the journey to the stronghold. He then simply listened to the two as they talked about what his sister wanted to do and where they would meet up once they had taken Derpy to the hospital in question, just so Gilda knew where to find them once she had the missing page of the Thievius Raccoonus.
When Murray stopped the van, to refuel their gas, Gilda parted from their company and took off, heading in the direction of the Panda King's stronghold, though Sly simply sighed and returned to watching Derpy... and he remained that way as they traveled back towards Paris.
Finding the hospital that treated both sides of the law was easy, especially with their contacts, though getting in proved to be quite simple when Bentley informed the staff that a member of their gang had been wounded by Clockwerk, where Sly discovered how infamous that name really was. Despite the fact that it was only a few scratches to the eye, including the loss of the eye and the fact that the three cuts would forever remain embedded on her face, the staff insisted on not only checking Derpy for any other injuries, but also insisted on checking out the entire gang. Of course they weren't happy when they were told that the final member of their gang, Gilda, was somewhere else, but they reserved a spot for her in case she decided to show up later on. The only good thing about this situation was that there weren't a lot of people around when they checked themselves into the hospital, otherwise Sly was sure that they would have been swarmed with people, from both sides of the law, asking questions about what happened... though this allowed them to have some peace while the staff did their jobs.
The main doctor that checked up on them was a male donkey that seemed to walk with a limp, which was combated by his walking cane, and he seemed to be in a grumpy mood, or something similar, though if he was impressed by what they had done he didn't show it... not like the rest of the staff, who seemed happy when they learned that the Cooper Gang not only fought Clockwerk, but had bested him as well.
"Well, it appears that the majority of you are just fine," the doctor said, which was followed by him walking into the room that the others were in, while at the same time Sly carefully helped Derpy into a sitting position so she could see the doctor as well, "physically anyway. Sly Cooper, it seems that whatever pain you were feeling for the last ten years has been replaced by a new one, though maybe this time you'll succeed in getting rid of it, instead of finding a new source of pain to latch onto. It seems that, while he didn't actually participate in the battle with Clockwerk, your friend Murray still hurt himself on the way here... apparently he got so angry at seeing his friend hurt that he punched one of the brick walls near an area where you stopped for the night. Instead of breaking his bones, like he should have, he only bruised himself and took the wall down."
"That sounds like Murray." Sly commented, though at the same time Derpy nodded her head in agreement, as their friend did have a slight anger problem at times, but now he was likely thinking of a way to prevent the same thing from happening in the future.
"He also insists that he's going to become 'The Murray' and help you in the future." the doctor continued, his tone suggesting that Murray shouldn't even attempt something like that, but since he had no control over what his patients did before coming here he was going to let Murray do whatever he wanted, "Your friend Bentley managed to survive this conflict without being hurt, both physically and mentally, so he's good to go, though now he's also thinking of lending you another helping hand... increasing the number of active Cooper Clan members to five, instead of three."
"Hey, it'll help in future heists." Derpy said, knowing that it was only a matter of time until Murray and Bentley joined them in actually stealing things, even if they focused on other criminals that stole things they shouldn't have.
"And then we come to you, the main reason why the Cooper Gang came here," the doctor said, turning to actually face Derpy this time around, while at the same time he set down the clipboard that had been in his spare hand since he wanted into the room, "you are fortunate that all Clockwerk took was one of your eyes, as that bird has been known to seriously wound and cripple those that get in his way. That brings us to what we can offer you; we can get you a glass eye to replace what you've lost, we can try to get an eye like the bird you took out, or you can take the easy way out and just wear a protective eyepatch over your eye."
"I think I'll stick with an eyepatch for now... at least until the pain goes away." Derpy replied, as the thought of a glass eye or some sort of eye that resembled Clockwerk's eyes didn't sit well with her, especially after everything they had been through to best the Fiendish Five.
"As you wish." the doctor stated, though at the same time he picked up his clipboard and started to head for the door, but as he did so he turned and looked at the siblings, "You aren't the only ones that checked in recently, nor are you the only ones claiming to have fought Clockwerk... I believe it was Ms. Fox that showed up shortly after you did."
To Sly's surprise not only did Carmelita beat them to the hospital, how he didn't even want to think about, but she came in without her weapon and badge, the weapon having been turned over to the staff to make sure that the two sides didn't attack each other, while her police badge not being present meant she wanted to meet them as equals.
"I see all of you are doing well." Carmelita commented, though at the same time the look on her face said that she was nervous about being here, especially since this was likely going to appear on her record, that she visited this particular hospital, and that some of her superiors would be asking her about this visit in the future, "Especially Gilda. I saw her when I walked into the building and the staff said that she was in good health... despite the fact that she flew all the way to China, grabbed the last page of your family tome, and came back here while suffering from some muscle cramps, which is because she was flying so fast for a long period of time."
"Sounds like her," Sly said, though he knew that it would be some time before the staff let Gilda in to see them, if they thought there was more they needed to observe and study before they concluded that Clockwerk had done nothing to her... and he suspected that they wanted to study an actual griffin before the chance slipped away from them.
"Sly, there's another reason why I came here so quickly," Carmelita said, to which she pointed at Derpy for a moment, where occasionally one could see the flicker of lightning over her fingers, the sign that her power was real and that she could unleash it whenever she desired, even if it had destructive consequences, "I talked with one of my superiors on the way here and told them what happened to Clockwerk, so they could rest assured that he was taken care of, and they know that both Derpy and Gilda have powers. Now, before either of you shout at me for giving away your secrets, let me inform you that the powers you have awakened make you both a greater threat than most of the villains Interpol has been hunting down, and you've only used them once. Secretary Sen, one of the highest members of Interpol's governing body, learned of what I told my superiors and has asked me to tell you something... he wants Gilda and Derpy to train with Mz. Ruby so they can understand their powers and not become monsters like the voodoo priestess did."
Sly stiffened for a moment, because if one of the Secretaries of Interpol's governing body wanted his sisters to train and understand their abilities, learning from one of the Fiendish Five in the process, he knew that the answer had to be yes, otherwise they could easily be placed at the highest point of their list, where Clockwerk used to be, and they'd be arrested at some point in the future.
"There's more to this than what he told me, that much I know," Carmelita continued, to which she glanced over at Sly for a moment, remembering what had happened after Clockwerk's defeat, before sighing as she spoke again, "Sly, he wants to meet you and your sisters here, in two days, to personally explain everything to your gang... and I'm supposed to stay here and make sure you go nowhere, even though you wouldn't leave without making sure Derpy is fine and checked out by the staff."
Sly nodded and sat back in his chair, as it appeared that their lives were about to get all the more complicated than he had originally thought, as all he had been planning was taking out the Fiendish Five and collecting the pages of the Thievius Raccoonus. Even as he thought about the family tome Gilda walked into the room and joined them, happy to see that Derpy was okay and that there wasn't any additional harm to her from their fight with Clockwerk, before she turned over the page that she had found in the last vault, which had contained Colonel Reid Cooper's Time Stopper technique. Sly let a smile appear on his face as he stared at the completed tome once more, as the last time he had held it was when he was eight years old, and he knew that he, Gilda, and Derpy were truly master thieves for being able to take out the Fiendish Five and recover what they had stolen... and now it was their turn to write their adventures in the great book, once they were discharged from the hospital in a few days.
Sly, Gilda, Derpy, Murray, and Bentley were able to get together again once the doctors and the nurses were done checking them all out, giving them their thoughts on what had happened to them since their fight with Clockwerk or the guards of the other members of the Fiendish Five. Sly was, suffice to say, surprised when he learned that not only did Murray and Bentley want to do more for him than what they currently did, but that they also wanted to become active members of the team and assist the siblings in their future heists. What that meant was that he and his sisters would have to share with them the vital techniques that a Cooper, and the members of their gang, needed to know in order to avoid detection, though based on what he had see so far neither Murray or Bentley had been spotted on the various cameras in the bases they had taken out, but that could have been because of Bentley's hacking skills. It wasn't long before Sly actually agreed to formally include them as active members of the Cooper Gang, which after everything they had done for him and his sisters, by hunting down the Fiendish Five and helping them acquire the Treasure Keys, he felt that they had earned.
While Gilda and Derpy agreed with his decision, as they were thinking the same thing, Sly knew that they were more focused on what Carmelita had told them when she arrived at the hospital as well, that one of Interpol's Secretaries wanted to speak with them and, to top it off, he knew all about their new powers... and, according to Carmelita, he wanted them to train with Mz. Ruby so they could master their skills.
Bentley was able to conclude that the reason behind the decision had to be because of the elemental powers they had awoken during their fight with Clockwerk, as Gilda now controlled the wind at will and Derpy seemed to have an affinity for calling down lightning from the sky. Secretary Sen likely wanted them to master their abilities, which had reacted so strongly to their anger when the ancient owl had wounded Derpy, so that when the time came and they were angry again they didn't set off a devastating chain reaction of some kind. What that meant was that Secretary Sen was trying to prevent them from accidentally calling down a twister and wrecking dozens of homes, and potentially killing innocent people, or summoning a thunderstorm that does the same thing. He knew that the sisters would never intentionally hurt someone with the desire to kill them, save for Clockwerk since he was asking for it, but he wanted to make sure that they understood their powers and that they could control them, instead of them being ruled by the very gifts they had unlocked.
The realization that their powers could hurt people, or even kill them if they weren't careful, made Gilda and Derpy shy away from their new abilities and not access them at all, which was mostly to protect everyone in the hospital and those that were outside the building every day.
Carmelita, on the other hand, remained true to her word and stayed near them at all times, or at the very least stayed near Sly, and kept her eyes on them, though she only moved out of the room when she had business to take care of or when a certain someone moved out of the room. Sure, she had been ordered to keep an eye on the Cooper Gang, which now had five members thanks to Murray and Bentley deciding to step up, but the one she was interested in keeping an eye on the most was Sly. She was still trying to decide whether or not there would actually be anything between them, especially since the first time Sly had actually gotten close enough to kiss her had been back at the Krack-Karov Volcano, and she couldn't even bring herself to hate what had happened. It was a rush that she hadn't been expecting, not to mention that the whole reason she was even considering this was because Sly wasn't a child, like a lot of people that knew his father seemed to think of him, rather he was a mature adult and had put the safety of his own sisters above whatever he desired... especially when the one thing he desired most, out of everything in the entire world, was standing right in front of him.
She knew that Sly was a criminal, and she had taken down a lot of criminals over the years since she joined Interpol, but she had to admit that he was one of the more honest criminals that she had ever come across and always told her exactly what was on his mind... once again making her wonder if there was a possibility that the two of them might actually form some sort of relationship at some point in time.
"Something on your mind, Ms. Fox?" Sly asked, as he knew that Carmelita had decided to follow him outside the room that Derpy had been assigned to, but he never once tried to shake her once he was outside the room and knew that she would have said something by now, meaning whatever she was thinking about had to be serious.
Carmelita snapped back to reality and found that she had followed Sly to a commons area of the hospital, one of the more private ones anyway, and wondered how she could have done such a thing when she had never been here before, but then realized that she must have been keeping her focus on Sly for so long that she just followed in his steps. That was a downside of chasing him for so long, she knew his methods better than anyone in Interpol and sometimes could follow him with her eyes closed, but he always took off whenever she tried to do that. Right now he was sitting at a table and she happened to be leaning on a wall near him, as if that was something she would normally do, before she sighed and decided that she might as well answer the question.
"Yes... I've been thinking about you and your gang." Carmelita replied, as that was the honest answer, even if she had been more focused on Sly than anyone else, but she wasn't about to tell him the truth, especially when she didn't know the whole truth for herself.
"Hopefully it's all the good we did by taking out the Fiendish Five," Sly said, though while he had the feeling that Carmelita was really thinking about something else, or rather someone else, he wasn't about to ask at the moment, not when he was worried about the meeting with the Secretary, "Raleigh's no longer sinking boats, Muggshot's not running people out of Mesa City anymore, Mz. Ruby's army and plans have been destroyed, the Panda King's no longer trying to bury villages in freezing snow, and Clockwerk... well, he's no longer around to terrorize anyone."
"You know that no one's going to believe that your gang did all of those things," Carmelita stated, though the only one that people might believe, if they were told, would be the battle with Clockwerk, and right now Sly didn't need to be thinking about that ancient owl, "but you did the right thing in knocking them all out... even though you did so by breaking and entering their bases, while stealing a number of items in the process."
"You can't prove that," Sly replied, as he knew several techniques that he had learned from his father, the stealthy ones anyway, that prevented modern equipment from seeing him, not that he planned on letting that happen, and had taught his sisters the same thing, "but, in the end, all that matters is that I got back what they stole and that they all go to jail for their various crimes... we get our family heirloom back and Interpol gets to cross the Fiendish Five off their list. Though one question still remains; what exactly were you thinking about earlier?"
Carmelita opened her mouth, to say that she had told him exactly what she was thinking about, but then she saw the all too familiar look in his eyes that revealed that he already guessed at the information, though while he likely knew the answer he was letting her tell him instead of dropping it on her.
"You... I was thinking about you." Carmelita said, though at the same time she sighed and took a seat at the table, as this was more appropriate than her standing by the wall, especially because of what she was going to say, "I guess I should be more honest. I was thinking about the possibility of there being an 'us' in the future, but..."
"It's okay if you don't want to talk about it now." Sly commented, causing Carmelita to look up for a moment, because he could see that she was having some trouble deciding on whether or not she wanted to go through with what she was thinking, "Just know that, when you do want to sit down and talk about it, I'll be ready to sit and listen."
Carmelita stared at Sly for a moment, who smiled at her, like she was a friend and not someone that was trying to put him, his family, and his friends behind bars, before he climbed out of his seat and started to walk back towards the hallway he used to reach this point. He only paused once, to place a hand on her shoulder to prove his point, before heading back towards the room that his sisters were waiting in, leaving her to think about what he was implying and what her reaction should be... though all she could do right now was stay there and wipe a few tears from her eyes, all while considering how she was going to go about this while she sat at the table.
Two days later, on the day that Secretary Sen was supposed to arrive at the hospital, Sly, Gilda, Derpy, Murray, Bentley, and Carmelita stood on the roof of the hospital, in a shaded area that had been rapidly constructed by the staff when they learned who was coming to visit them. Each of them were wearing their normal clothing, as there was no reason for them to be wearing hospital gowns since they had been declared as healthy, and Derpy was actually wearing the eyepatch that had been given to her, even though she missed her eye. Out of all of them Carmelita was the only one worried about what Secretary Sen might do to Sly and his gang, not only because they were criminals that were taking out the true villains, but also because she decided that the possibility between her and Sly might have a chance at succeeding. The only thing that stood in the way of that was what happened next, as while this was neutral ground, and the fact that the police couldn't arrest people like the Cooper Gang inside the building, but there was nothing to stop them from doing so once they were outside the building.
There was rush of wind for a moment, causing Carmelita to wonder if Gilda was messing with the wind, but before she could say anything she spotted a figure flying towards the roof of the hospital, to which her eyes widened as a phoenix, wearing the attire of an Interpol officer, and came complete with the proper decorations, landed in front of their group... allowing her to see that the Secretary was like Gilda and Derpy, with his wings separate from his arms and hands, and that there was a serious look in his eyes.
"Secretary Sen," Carmelita nervously said, though at the same time she saluted the Secretary, while Sly and the others seemed to follow her gesture, mostly because they had never met someone like him before, on good terms anyway, and had no idea had to properly stand before such a person, "it's an honor that you took time out of your busy schedule to come and see us."
"At ease Inspector Fox," Secretary Sen said, to which Carmelita relaxed for a moment, causing the others to follow her lead, though as they did that they felt the eyes of Sen upon them, or more specifically upon Gilda and Derpy, "I heard that you were a witness to the awakening of two people that commanded frightening power, and that the duo in question were members of the Cooper Gang... Gilda and Derpy Cooper, am I right?"
"Y... Yes, you are correct." Carmelita replied, though she was still amazed by the fact that he had heard about the fact the sisters had power so quickly, especially since she had gone to the office first, to write the report, before heading to the hospital, where she learned of this visit before she even reached the building, "From what I could see Gilda's supposed to have some control over the wind and Derpy can command the lightning."
"Is that so?" Secretary Sen inquired, to which he turned his attention towards the Cooper Gang, or rather the sisters in question, and studied them for a few seconds, where he found that one of them had lost an eye, just like in the report that he had read earlier, "Tell me, can either of you bring your power to the surface for a few seconds? I would like to see if the reports are true for myself."
Gilda and Derpy glanced at each other for a few seconds, as they hadn't tried calling on their powers since the battle with Clockwerk, but they decided that there was nothing to lose and nodded their heads, to which they stepped forward a little bit and separated themselves from the others. Gilda was the first to react as she closed her eyes and focused her mind on the feeling of the wind that was all around them, as she could feel it move through her hair and pass by the rest of their group. It was beginning to make sense why they had been asked to gather on the roof, where they had better access to the elements they had unlocked during the fight, to which she grasped what she had been feeling before. As she did that she felt the wind around them kick up, to which she opened her eyes and found that there was a small cyclone that was forming near them, but it wasn't powerful enough to do anything besides spin in place for a few seconds. Secretary Sen stared at the small cyclone for a few seconds, with a look of interest in his eyes, before he nodded his head, to which Gilda let out the breath she had been holding and the cyclone collapsed on itself.
As that happened Derpy focused her mind on what she had felt when she had accessed her own power, the intensity of her anger after Clockwerk took away her eye, and she felt the connection to the sky awaken again, though this time around several bits of lightning wrapped around her wrists and moved around in the shape of a pair of gauntlets. Once Secretary Sen nodded his head towards her, just like he did with Gilda, she released what she was feeling and the lightning disappeared as quickly as it came.
"Wind and lightning... such an interesting combination of powers." Secretary Sen commented, though at the same time a smile appeared on his face for a moment, but as that happened he seemed to pat someone on the shoulder, as if someone had been standing to his right the entire time, "Come on Diz, there's no need to hide yourself."
The group watched as someone phased into existence next to the Secretary, as if he had been wearing some sort of invisibility trinket and had dispelled it when the Secretary had asked him to, though they were surprised to find that the person in question was a male hyena, who was a year or two younger than the sisters... and, what really shocked them, was the pair of wings that were growing out of his back, which were half the size of Gilda and Derpy's wings.
"Allow me to introduce Diz S. Cordious," Secretary Sen said, to which he tapped the young man on the shoulder for a moment, where the youngster folded his wings in, though that was before he turned towards the group and noticed that they were shocked, "I found him yesterday, using his own unique abilities to pull pranks on people in a nearby park, and decided that being around people like him will be good for him, along with assisting him in adapting to a more normal life. I've already spoken with Mz. Ruby and she's interesting in taking him on as well, meaning that you'll have a fellow student if you decide to take up her lessons so you can control your powers. Before either of you say anything, just remember what happened at the Krack-Karov Volcano; you both activated your powers, for the first time, in a fit of anger towards a single individual... so I want you to think about what might happen if you went without training and had an event like that happen again."
"Another person with actual power in this world." Sly commented, as the moment Diz had revealed himself he didn't know what to think, as it couldn't have been a coincidence that the Secretary, who was going to be meeting his sisters, found another magic wielder a day before this visit.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Diz. My name is Derpy Cooper." Derpy said, to which she held her hand out towards the younger boy, who stared at her for a few seconds, as if he was mentally debating what to do next, before he raised his hand and shook Derpy's outstretched hand, before she used her other hand to wave towards her sister, "And this is my sister, Gilda Cooper."
"Sir, you did run this by his parents, right?" Carmelita asked, as while she shouldn't be questioning one of the Secretaries, as that might very well get her fired, she also noticed that he hadn't mentioned Diz's parents at all and that worried her for a moment.
"I checked the records and this guy's an orphan," Secretary Sen replied, which caught the attention of the Cooper Gang, as all of them had been orphans until Sly arrived at the orphanage that Gilda, Derpy, Bentley, and Murray had been left at, "and, despite not having gone anywhere for school, he's very knowledgeable for someone of his age. I want to help him turn his life around, though to do that he needs a greater command of his own powers, which is why he'll be joining Gilda and Derpy in their lessons with Mz. Ruby... unless they'd rather not do that and accidentally hurt someone further down the line."
"No, we'll learn from Mz. Ruby." Gilda replied, as she knew what might happen if they refused the Secretary, and her family knew what she was thinking, so it was best to accept the help and go along with it, especially since she'd rather not hurt someone that was innocent with her new power.
"Good, then I shall inform Mz. Ruby of your decision," Secretary Sen said, as that was the answer that he was expecting, because the Coopers were always protecting people and never put them in harms way, "though knowing her she already knows what happened here and will find me telling her the information to be funny. There is one last thing I would like to talk about before we take our leave, and it not only involves the entire Cooper Gang, but also Inspector Fox as well."
Carmelita froze for a moment, as this wasn't something she had been expecting, though she knew that Secretary Sen was known to have several different conversations with a group, usually because there were two or three different groups present at the time... to which she gulped for a moment and waited to see what the Secretary had to say.
"There are only two types of people that are on the criminal side of the law," Secretary Sen continued, after noticing that all of them had stopped in their tracks once they heard that he still wanted to speak with them, where he also took a second to notice that Sly was worried about something, or for someone, "There are criminals, like your gang, that local law can deal with, provided they have the means to catch you, and then there are villains, or 'baddies' as some of my fellow Secretaries call them. Sly Cooper, I want to make use of your talents in bringing justice to the more terrible members of your side of the law, just like you did when you went after the Fiendish Five, which means that Inspector Fox will still be the one 'chasing' you. So long as you inform us of which villains you and your gang are going after, and just how bad they really are, we'll be there at the end of the day to lock them up, just like Inspector Fox did to the Fiendish Five... though I'll let you two make sense of the details."
Secretary Sen could see the light in both Carmelita and Sly's eyes as he said that, as he had been expecting the two of them to form some sort of bond over what happened at the end of the battle with Clockwerk, if the report he had read was anything to go by, and it seemed that he might be right. With Carmelita as the gang's handler, in a sense, Sly would truthfully tell them who they were going after and what their criminal deeds were, not even leaving a single detail out so they could see the whole picture. That would allow them to prepare for the arrests once the Cooper Gang was done with their operations, just like Carmelita did earlier, but he was sure that the two of them would be able to come to a number of agreements over the situation that they now found themselves in. It didn't even take Sly, much less the rest of his gang, even three minutes to decide that this was better than what they were hoping, as it was essentially the game that he had played with Carmelita, only now they would be working together, in a sense, to bring justice to those that were more dangerous to society and the world.
Though as he took off, and young Diz followed after him, he knew that the other reason behind him setting this up was because of the reports that came back from the Krack-Karov Volcano, where the pieces of Clockwerk rested and were in the slow process of being pulled to the surface... because he feared that the ancient owl wasn't dead yet and, if his worst fears came to life, only the Coopers would be able to silence him again, and he knew that it would take them around the world to stop such a vile thing from happening.
After meeting with Secretary Sen, and coming to terms with the fact that he not only wanted Gilda and Derpy to train with Mz. Ruby, along with a new kid called Diz, but also wanted to use the Cooper Gang to flush out criminals that were far worse than they could ever be, their daily routines became a little strange. Shortly after they were discharged from the hospital, and before the first day his sisters had to visit Mz. Ruby, Sly spent some of his time coming up with a training programs for both Bentley and Murray. The reason behind there being two different styles was because they both had their own strengths and their own weaknesses, though even as he started creating those programs both Gilda and Derpy assisted him for an hour, pointing out the various courses he could use when he trained their friends to be full fledged members of the Cooper Gang. The sisters were eager to see what they could do when Bentley and Murray started doing jobs with them and Sly, especially the division of the various tasks they had to do, but they would figure that out in time, one Sly was sure that they were ready for a heist.
"So, are the two of you excited for your first lesson with Mz. Ruby?" Sly asked, though he still felt that it was weird that the voodoo priestess had even agreed to do something like this, but he suspected that Secretary Sen must have offered her something she couldn't resist to make this arrangement.
"It's going to be weird seeing her as a teacher and not the enemy," Gilda admitted, as for a while there all three of them had seen her as someone they needed to take out, though now she was locked up and had the opportunity to teach the two of them more about their powers, and how they might control them, "but I think we'll adapt to the change in no time and get over our feelings for the Fiendish Five."
Sly knew that the three of them, along with Bentley and Murray, had a grudge against the Fiendish Five for taking out his father all those years ago, something that he must have imparted on both his sisters and his friends, but he was also sure that they could overcome it in time. He also wasn't kidding when he asked the question about their first lesson, as it was actually scheduled for this afternoon and both Gilda and Derpy were required to show up as civilians, meaning that they were wearing normal clothing instead of their thief attire. They were even leaving their canes in their rooms, to complete the image, but Sly suspected that once they were done with their training, and they didn't need Mz. Ruby's help anymore, they wouldn't need their canes to protect themselves, though they'd likely carry them around anyway, since they had been doing that for the last ten years anyway. Sly felt that it was strange seeing his sisters like this, getting ready to visit a prison, but from what he knew about Secretary Sen he was always true to his word, meaning he wasn't going to trap them inside the same prison they were visiting.
A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts, to which he headed over to it and opened it, where he found Carmelita standing on the other side, and he quickly moved out of the way as she accepted his invitation to enter the part of the warehouse that they were in.
One thing they had done, a few months before they stole the information that Carmelita had on the Fiendish Five, was purchase an old warehouse and modified it so that the majority of it actually served as a training grounds for him and his sisters, and that now included Bentley and Murray. Their residence, on the other hand, was actually inside the warehouse, as Bentley had helped get them everything they needed, privacy and security wise, to avoid them being spotted by the city or the officials, though thanks to their arrangement with Secretary Sen Interpol knew where to find them now. The main reason that Carmelita was the one showing up was because she was the only one that Secretary Sen trusted with the information that Gilda and Derpy had powers, meaning she was also the one that would be taking them to their sessions with Mz. Ruby, which was twice a week, on Monday and Friday, for an hour each day. It was the best he could do without raising suspicion, though right now the sisters were happy with what they were being given, especially since their only other option would have been to learn the techniques from the books that Mz. Ruby had gifted them after her defeat.
Sly was also fine with the arrangement, as that meant that it might give him and Carmelita some time to talk when she brought the sisters home, after their sessions were complete, and he was eager to see if they might actually form some sort of relationship at last.
"Well, I can see that you two are ready to go." Carmelita said, as it was easy to tell that both Gilda and Derpy were ready, though it still felt weird for her to be taking criminals, who were dressed as civilians, to prison so they could learn to control their magic from another inmate, who also had powers of her very own.
"As ready as we'll ever be." Gilda replied, as both she and Derpy were nervous about the fact that Mz. Ruby would be teaching them, mostly because she was so interested in them when they were assaulting her base of operations to claim the pages of the Thievius Raccoonus she had taken.
Carmelita nodded and informed Sly that she would have the sisters back soon enough, to which the three of them headed outside and climbed into her car, where they found Diz sitting in the front next to where Carmelita would be sitting, though that only made the sisters take the back seats before they drove off. Neither Gilda or Derpy were upset that Diz apparently got to ride shotgun, as it appeared that Secretary Sen only trusted Carmelita with making sure the young boy got to the sessions and didn't prank anyone instead of seeing Mz. Ruby. It was a silent trip, mostly because the sisters could tell that this might have been one of the times that Diz was exposed to people for a long period of time, but they said nothing as they drove towards their destination. When they arrived Carmelita parked her car and ushered the three of them into the prison, where she got them through the checkpoints and made sure they were wearing their visitor tags the entire time while they were walking.
Fortunately this wasn't one of the prisons where they had to worry about prisoners trying to make an escape, allowing them to walk by the guards as they entered the courtyard... where they spotted Mz. Ruby, wearing a prison uniform made for her body, meditating near a pond, though as they approached her she seemed to awaken from her trance and turned her gaze towards them with a smile on her face.
"Gilda and Derpy Cooper, it is a pleasure to see you two again," Mz. Ruby said, taking a moment to look over the sisters, as if she was seeing their powers for herself, before she nodded her head and looked over at the other person she would be training, "And you must be Diz. It is good to meet another person that has some inner power like we do. If you don't mind me asking, how did you get your name?"
"It... it was what my mother left on my basket when she dropped me off at the orphanage," Diz replied, though since this was the first time the sisters had heard him talk they were surprised, because he sounded like a teenage boy that was saddened by his own past, "All I know is that neither of my parents cared much to take care of me after I was born, as they abandoned me the first chance they got... and I have no idea who either of them were. The staff at the orphanage were nice to me, though the other kids picked on me because of my wings and said I was a freak, so I played some harmless pranks on them over the years."
"Until you eventually ran away and started living on the streets," Gilda guessed, as that made the most logical sense, because that was sort of what she, Derpy, Sly, Bentley, and Murray did sometime after they first met each other and formed a small group.
"Yeah..." Diz said, though he didn't sound surprised that someone had guessed what he had done, rather he felt happy that someone at least knew what he was talking about, before he rubbed the back of his head, indicating that he didn't want to talk about his past, "Hey, can we not talk about my past? I don't like thinking about it."
"Of course," Mz. Ruby replied, as she should have known that the young boy wouldn't want to talk about his past, as most children that were in his position preferred not to talk about the past, save for Gilda, Derpy, and Sly since their clan's history was important to them, before she addressed the three youngsters, "The first thing I want the three of you to do is take a seat and breathe deeply for a few seconds, as we'll be starting with some simple meditation to help you feel the flow of your own magic. When I feel that all three of you are ready, and not a moment before that, I'll start actually teaching you new ways to manipulate your own individual powers... once I figure out what your powers are."
Gilda and Derpy, not expecting simple meditation for their first lesson, stared at each other for a few seconds before they sat on the ground and listened to Mz. Ruby's instructions, to which Diz followed their movements and sat beside them, though at the same time Carmelita stood nearby and kept track of the time.
As Carmelita watched the four magic users do their meditation, as Mz. Ruby joined them in closing her eyes and offered suggestions to those that needed assistance, without even looking at them, she noticed that the wind seemed to pick up a tiny bit as Gilda meditated. She could have sworn that she heard the sound of some thunder nearby, where she spotted some black clouds off in the distance, and knew that Derpy had to be responsible for what she was seeing, though at the same time she noticed that nothing seemed to happen when Mz. Ruby delved into her meditation. The interesting part was that Diz, of all people, didn't seem to have any sort of effect on the area around them, though Carmelita had to guess that was because he had somehow unlocked his own powers when he was younger and had gotten the control over them that he did. She also remembered that he seemed to have an invisibility spell or trinket, something that would likely allow him to steal from places, but from what she could tell he was a simple prankster and not a thief, making her wonder how he had survived all these years.
From what she could tell the three magical novices were trying their hardest to obtain the level that Mz. Ruby wanted, though the voodoo priestess didn't appear to be in the mood for giving up and she was constantly offering them tips to improve their chances or their bodies so they could master the meditation faster... though soon the hour was up, surprising the three of them in the process, but at the same time Carmelita was sure that they had learned something and would continue to do so as time moved on.
"Derpy, I sensed something odd on your person during my meditation." Mz. Ruby commented, though while she knew that the hour was over she wanted to get this out of the way now, so that way when they came back to her in a few days she could begin the next session immediately, "What is it that you are carrying?"
"Oh, this?" Derpy said, to which she tugged on the necklace that she was wearing and revealed the strange computer chip she had found after they defeated Clockwerk, and had lost her eye in the process, "It's just a strange chip I found at the Krack-Karov Volcano... it seems to radiate some sort of blue glow that fills me with hope."
"Is that so?" Mz. Ruby inquired, to which she stared at the chip in question, though since she now knew where it had come from she was tempted to tell her to destroy it, but then she decided that it wasn't her place to do something like that, not when it filled the young pegasus with hope, "Well then, take good care of it... you might figure out what to do with it at some point in the future."
Carmelita watched as Derpy nodded and then escorted the three novices out of the prison, so she could take them back to the warehouse that was the main base of operations for the Cooper Gang when they were in Paris, though as they headed home the three novices discussed what they had felt, indicating that they were taking up Mz. Ruby's suggestion of sharing notes to improve themselves. She simply let them talk, as she had no idea what they were talking about, while at the same time she noticed that Diz seemed more open with the sisters than he did when he was spending some time with her and the Secretary. She thought back to something Secretary Sen asked her to observe while she was with Diz, as he was curious if the Coopers would actually take in someone that was like Gilda and Derpy, that way they'd know what was going on with him without having an official watch over him all the time... and keeping him with the Coopers would take out two birds with one stone, at least according to the Secretary.
It didn't take them long to reach the warehouse, using the same path she used when she reached it the first time to make sure no one could follow her, though when the four of them entered the building she found Murray running a course that Sly must have created... and that both Sly and Bentley were observing him while manipulating the controls to modify the course as they desired. As they walked into the building the group headed up to where Sly and Bentley were standing, which in turn brought an end to the training session as Murray actually finished his course, though Sly turned towards them and smiled.
"So, how was your training session?" Sly asked, though at the same time he headed over to the refrigerator and pulled out some sodas, to which he tossed one to Gilda and Derpy before handing one to Diz, who actually accepted it and sat beside the sisters as they all opened their drinks.
"Well, we meditated and tried to tap into our powers," Gilda replied, though while she did that she looked down at her hand as she remembered what she had felt earlier, before glancing at Sly and the others, "Mz. Ruby made it sound like it'll take some time before we actually learn any powers and add to our arsenals, so I'd hazard a guess that it will be a few weeks before we get anything."
"I suspected as much," Sly said, as he had been sure that learning this sort of thing was like any other skill, it required time and practice before someone became a master, especially since Mz. Ruby's file had said that she had spent years practicing before becoming the voodoo priestess that she was, "Hey Diz, how does it feel to be with people that are like you for a change?"
"It... it feels good." Diz admitted, though at the same time he took a drink from his soda and smiled at them, indicating that he was happy to be with fellow magic users, before he sighed as he sat back in his seat, "But if I'm being honest, I kind of wish that it was for more than a few hours at most, on the same two days every week... it would be nice to have a place where I belonged."
Carmelita could see the look in Sly's eyes the moment Diz said that, as the young boy had been living on his own for so long and likely had no idea what it was like to have a family, though Sly was likely thinking about seeing what could be done for him and was likely going to ask her about it in the future. She wondered what Sly was going to think when she told him of Secretary Sen's plan to see if he would take Diz into the family at some point, though she knew that only time would tell in this situation.
Sly relaxed as he, Bentley, Murray, and Diz settled into the side of the hot springs that the Cooper Gang had stopped at after their latest heist, though this was the side reserved for males, as Gilda and Derpy were doing the same thing in the other side of the hot springs. It had been some time since his sisters and Diz started training with Mz. Ruby, or more like two months since the first meeting, and they had gotten some skill in calling their powers to the surface, but they needed time before they could fully master their abilities. The reason that Diz was with them was because the Cooper Gang felt a connection to him, since he had been in an orphanage for some time until he ran away, which was their story all over again, and they had accepted him into the gang, like he was one of the family. Diz had been very emotional during that time, as that had been the first time he had anything that resembled a family, and he devoted himself to picking up the techniques that Gilda and Derpy practiced in addition to their magical skills.
This heist wasn't one of the ones that they needed to tell Secretary Sen about, even though Carmelita was likely going to tell him about it, because it had been a test of the skills that Diz had picked up so far, proving that he had the skill to be one of the gang as well. As such Sly had figured that they could take a break, in a place where they would have some privacy for some time, and relax in an area like this before all of them headed back to Paris to continue their various training until it was time to plan their next heist. Diz, who happened to be enjoying himself more than he had been when he was alone, dove under the water for some reason, to which Sly decided to let him have his fun and leaned back against the rock that he was sitting near. A few seconds later Diz surfaced and started to get the water out of his hair, though as Sly focused on him he found that Diz's body had changed rather suddenly, as it was more feminine than it had been a few seconds ago and his hair was much longer... and his, or rather her, chest had enlarged as well, reminding Sly of Carmelita for a few seconds.
"Um, Diz?" Sly commented, causing the newest member of the Cooper Gang to turn towards him, to which he made a quick gesture down towards his own chest, so Diz would get the hint, "You might want to look down for a moment."
"What do you... mean?" Diz asked, where Sly heard that Diz's voice had changed as well, but even as that happened she glanced down and her eyes widened as she sank back into the water, submerging herself so she could hide everything below her neck, "Why in the world am I suddenly a girl? None of this is making any sense."
Sly, after seeing several of Diz's powers and tricks since he first welcomed the hyena into the gang, had come to the conclusion that Diz's powers were chaotic, maybe even random, though this was the first time that he had seen something as drastic as this. He was also sure that Diz wasn't doing this intentionally, as the look on her face told him that she was embarrassed over what had happened, to which he sighed as he picked up a towel and moved over to Diz, where he helped her out of the water and diverted his gaze as she covered herself up. For a few seconds he was grateful that Bentley and Murray were enjoying themselves in a different part of their side of the hot springs, as that meant that he was the only one that will have seen Diz like this and might be able to get her somewhere so they could figure out what happened to her, and if they could reverse it before the others noticed. That proved to be incorrect not a few seconds later, because the sound of Diz's new voice had caused the others to stop what they were doing and investigate, because Sly could see both Murray and Bentley staring at them from the area they had taken earlier.
Suffice to say that both of his friends were shocked by Diz's sudden transformation, exactly like Sly was, and Bentley didn't even try to figure out why this was possible, since he had already given up trying to analyze the chaotic properties of Diz's powers... though when Gilda and Derpy found out about the change, as Diz hadn't changed back by the time they were supposed to regroup a few minutes later, they were both shocked and surprised by the sudden change. Diz was still embarrassed over her change, further making Sly believe that this wasn't intentional, but at the same time the sisters tried their best to help Diz out in adjusting to her new body. A few minutes later the gang headed out of the hot springs, fully dressed in their attire, and they climbed back into the van so they could head back to Paris, to continue their training and preparations for their future heists. Since it was the middle of the week, and the next magic session with Mz. Ruby wasn't for a few more days, that gave Gilda and Derpy some time to practice with Diz, so they could all master their control over their energies and hopefully get their teacher to actually teach them some spells.
Friday morning, before Carmelita was supposed to arrive to take them to the prison that Mz. Ruby held their sessions in, the gang was shocked when Diz woke up and walked out in his normal body, meaning he must have reverted in his sleep, though that only annoyed him... as there were several items he had to take off before Carmelita arrived.
As time went by the gang went on a number of additional heists, the majority of them being minor ones, though one of them involved them trying to steal a painting called the Mona Lizard, though while Sly was doing that he had came across an invitation to a wedding in Monaco. According to the invitation the wedding was between an iguana named Dimitri Lousteau and a pig called Madam D'Oinkeau, who was an art aficionado that happened to possess the Venus de Whalo, a statue that Sly had been after for some time. As such the gang headed to Monaco and set up a few plans on how they could acquire the statue, though as they did so Gilda, doing some air recon of the place without being detected, was able to report that Carmelita had been brought in by Madam D'Oinkeau for additional protection. Of course that presented a challenge for them, one that Sly was eager to get around, and eventually he opted to enter the mansion via a skylight in the roof.
Bentley, Murray, and Diz were supposed to get the getaway vehicle, which they had planned to be the last ferry out of Monaco for that day, and the operation went into effect, though while the three of them prepared themselves Sly and his sisters headed for the roof. What they found was some of Dimitri's goons forging pieces of art in the attic space, though they knocked them out and a new idea came to them, as Gilda and Derpy swiped the clothing from a few of the guards and used the radio to reveal that they 'apprehended' Sly Cooper. That had the desired effect that they wanted, as Carmelita made it possible for the path to the statue to be open as she charged towards the attic, though as she, and Madam D'Oinkeau, discovered that Dimitri was a criminal, Sly and his sisters made their way down to the statue and found Murray waiting outside. Since the escape was ready, and Bentley had sent him to assist in moving the statue, the four of them removed the statue, left the calling card, and hauled the statue into the van, before they headed away from the mansion and headed towards the ferry... though Sly got off at one point so Carmelita could chase him, as he didn't want her to catch the gang with the statue.
When Carmelita caught up with him the two of them had a brief conversation on the bridge that they were standing on, though after he jumped off the bridge a few minutes later, and safely landed on the ferry as it moved under the bridge, Gilda and Derpy could see the look in their brother's eyes and knew that he and Carmelita had kissed again, which was becoming more common these days.
After that heist things seemed to return to some normalcy, or what could be normal now that the gang had someone whose power seemed to be more chaotic than what Gilda and Derpy had, until at least two years had passed since they had defeated Clockwerk. It was then that they discovered that someone had managed to collect the pieces of the ancient owl that hated the Cooper Clan and was storing them inside a museum in Cairo, though it was none other than Carmelita who gave them that information. The reason was that she was being assigned as security for the pieces of Clockwerk, in the off chance that the gang came looking to take them, but even so she planned on making sure they walked out of the museum with the pieces in their possession, as both she and Secretary Sen trusted that the Cooper Gang would know what to do with the Clockwerk parts... to which the gang headed for Cairo, as it was time to make sure the ancient owl stayed dead, just in case his soul still resided inside the metallic body and was waiting to be awoken from his slumber.
Their plan was bare bones, which was thanks to the fact that they didn't have much time to really survey the situation, obtain information on the routes that the guards took, or figure out exactly where the Clockwerk parts were located, but fortunately that last part was supplied by Carmelita. Bentley went over the various blueprints he could get his hands on, before they arrived at the museum, and was able to create a basic plan for them to follow when they reached their destination. Sly, Gilda, and Derpy would run over the rooftops until they reached the dinosaur exhibit, where they should be able to lower themselves into the room the ancient bones were in and make their way up to a walkway that was above the floor of the area. From there, according to what Bentley could see, they could activate an elevator and raise him up to their level, as he intended to enter the museum through the basement and met up with them, before finding the main terminal to give them total access to the systems throughout the buildings. Murray and Diz, on the other hand, were supposed to meet the siblings halfway, dropping into an area that was along the way to where the Clockwerk parts were located... once Bentley was able to give them the best place for them to drop into the building.
At the same time they all knew that Carmelita, along with someone that was supposed to be her new partner, would be near the Clockwerk parts and that they would likely be guarding them in some manner, which meant they had to be careful when they reached the target destination... and by then Bentley was sure that he would figure out how to draw Carmelita and her partner away from the parts so the others could take them.
When Murray stopped the van near the museum, in a location where he would be able to quickly access it if they needed to run and where they could easily carry the Clockwerk parts to, the gang got out of their seats, gathered the various pieces of their gear, and climbed out of the van. From there the six of them split up and headed towards their destinations, so that when they were all in position they could begin the operation, to which Bentley headed into the basement, Murray slowly climbed up a different building with Diz following him, and the siblings made their way over to the building with the dinosaur exhibit. Sure enough the three of them were able to quickly make their way over to the building in question, though as they did so they found that hatch that would allow them to enter the part of the building they needed to drop into. Sly, upon reaching the hatch, pulled out some rope and attached it to something nearby, allowing him to climb down into the exhibit room below them, though Derpy and Gilda followed after him the moment he reached the floor... though Gilda made sure to undo the rope and collect it so they wouldn't leave a clue that might trace back to them.
Once the three of them were together again, and took a moment to actually stare at the large T-Rex skeleton that was nearby, they focused on the task at hand and pulled out their binocucoms, so they could let the others know that they were in position and that they were ready to begin the operation.
"Breaker Alpha Foxtrot this is the Wizard," Bentley said, seeing their icons appear on his own binocucom, as he knew what that meant, while at the same time Murray and Diz continued heading towards their own destination so they could be ready for when the siblings arrived, "do you read me Sitting Duck?"
"This is Peking Duck. I hear you, Blizzard." Sly replied, though while part of him was intentionally saying the wrong words, to calm his nerves considering that they were going after the parts of his ancient enemy, the other part didn't think they really needed codenames at the moment.
"No Sly, I'm 'the Wizard' and you're 'Sitting Duck'." Bentley replied, though his tone indicated that he couldn't believe that Sly was even doing this at the moment, but at the same time Gilda and Derpy knew that Bentley was only using these new codenames to calm himself down as well.
"I read you loud and clear, Lizard." Diz commented, as he had decided to have a little fun and speak up from where he and Murray were, while at the same time Sly and his sisters had to resist the urge to chuckle, because at the very least they weren't completely nervous about the situation they were in.
"No I'm... forget it, none of you are taking this seriously." Bentley stated, where his tone revealed that he was slightly annoyed with all of them, but since they were all in position he knew that he'd have to talk with them later and focus on the task at hand.
"Look, Bentley, I know this is your first time out in the field but you've got to loosen up." Gilda commented, as she knew that this was going to be hard for their friend, but he needed to remember the training that Sly put him and Murray through during the last two years, "If we're going to get to those Clockwerk parts I need you on your toes. So in plain talk, what's your status?"
"Well, I've established myself in the basement," Bentley replied, revealing that he had accomplished the task that he had given himself when he was creating the plan they were following, which was great news for their operation, "and I'm pretty sure I can rewire the service elevator if one of you can power it up from that security station."
"Sure thing." Sly said, as their binocucoms shifted to the switch in question, which was on the wall of the walkway that rested above them, though at the same time Bentley sighed as the connection was terminated, allowing them to put their binocucoms away and focus on the task at hand.
Fortunately it didn't take them long to figure out a way up to the walkway above them, as that required jumping on a bounce pad that was just in front of the T-Rex and landing on the dinosaur's head, to which they carefully walked across the bones, to make sure they didn't topple the skeleton, and jumped over to the walkway. Sure, Gilda and Derpy could have used their wings for something like that, but there were times where they wanted to do things like normal thieves, which meant they refrained from using their wings all the time... though they said nothing as they reached the service elevator and flipped the switch.
"Okay, I've spliced the wires... ouch!" Bentley said, where the siblings heard him hurt himself a little in the process of rewiring the elevator, though they stood there as they waited for him to come up to their level, "Hold on. There it is."
When the elevator arrived Sly, Gilda, and Derpy greeted Bentley as the elevator came to a stop and he walked out of the container, though at the same time they could see that he was wearing a bulletproof vest with some pads on his knees and elbows. He was also wearing what many would assume was a hunter's hat, which went well with the crossbow that he was carrying with him at all time, one that he outfitted with a number of darts that he could use if he was forced to actually fight someone. Bentley had also managed to figure out how to craft a few explosives over the last two years, though since they were trying to sneak through the museum, and not let the guards find them before they reached their objective, he had decided to leave them in the van, especially since he could ask either Gilda or Derpy to get them if he actually needed one of them in the near future.
The moment Bentley was up on the platform with them, and left the elevator behind, he headed over towards the security computer that he had pointed out a few moments ago, to which the siblings walked over to the locked door and waited near him as he worked his magic.
"Spotlights are offline... there goes the laser security system... I'm working on the security gate." Bentley commented, speaking up every time he disabled one of the systems that were resting along the path that Sly, Gilda, and Derpy needed to take so they could reach the Clockwerk parts, "Presto, all clear."
"Thanks, pal." Sly said, though at the same time the gate in front of them moved out of their way, allowing them to move into the museum and really begin the search for their target, "For your first time out, you did pretty well."
"Oh, this operation is far from complete." Bentley stated, though he stared at the security computer and the codes he had put in, as there was more that he needed to do before he could leave the area, "Now that the lasers and spotlights are offline, Murray and Diz should be moving into position for your rendezvous. I'll stay here and provide computer support while you go on ahead."
With that said Sly and his sisters walked into the corridor that was in front of them, where they ignored the locked paths that were in front of them and carefully followed the path that Bentley had created for them, while at the same time the intercom came online,
Uh, attention all guards. This is the network administrator. Bentley said, though while his tone revealed that he was nervous he was actually doing quite well for his first time out in the field, as both Gilda and Derpy agreed with their brother's statement, We're installing some new software into the security mainframe, so don't be alarmed if the systems get turned off for a while. Uh, thank you. You're all doing a great job.
Thanks to the path that Bentley had created for them, allowing the three of them to bypass the security guards that were walking around the museum, Sly, Gilda, and Derpy were able to exit the building and looked out at all the other buildings that were around them... and pulled out their binocucoms, as there was something else Bentley needed to tell them before they moved forwards.
"According to the information Carmelita gave us, the Clockwerk parts are being stored up there." Bentley stated, to which their binocucoms moved towards the building that he was talking about, the one that had a large glass window, large enough for Clockwerk's body to fit through, "Now, to get access, you're going to have to meet up with Murray and Dix at the rendezvous point. Unfortunately, the route through the garden is filled with guards."
"No problem, we'll just take the long way around." Derpy said, staring at the nearby rope that happened to be off on their right, one that seemed to form a path that would require them to leave the museum for a moment, until they reached the other end and returned to a new building.
Sly was the first one to move as they put their binocucoms away, as he jumped and spun around as he landed on the rope, allowing him to walk above the street that was below them, which had a number of cars still moving, before Gilda and Derpy followed his lead. Together the three of them made their way over to the buildings that were across the street, making sure to avoid drawing attention to themselves, and snuck around the alley that they discovered, before they reached another balcony that had a snake statue resting on the right of where the rope ended. As the three of them neared the balcony, however, Bentley commented that Murray must have gotten himself and Diz lost, since they weren't in front of the trio, but none of them moved. The reason behind that decision was because of what was coming next, as they could see the shadow that Murray made was beginning to appear on one of the walls, to which they prepared themselves as Murray jumped into the air.
"Thunder Flop!" Murray said, to which he smashed through the glass dome that was attached to the ceiling, raining glass down on the area that was in front of the siblings, before he smashed into the table and crushed it, where he picked himself up and dusted himself off, "Greetings, citizens. I hope none of you were harmed by my meteoropic entrance."
Sly, Gilda, and Derpy found that Murray was now wearing a maroon wrestling mask, fighting gloves, and a large belt, which accompanied his usual attire, making him look like a fighter and not a thief, but he was definitely the gang's muscle and none of them questioned his choice of clothing.
"Murray, I'm pretty sure they kept at a safe distance." Diz stated, to which he jumped down into the area and landed beside his friend, who smiled at him for a moment, though they were both glad that none of the others had been in the way of the entrance.
Diz's attire was slightly different from the rest of the gang, as since there had been multiple times where his power had changed his form, shocking those around him when it happened since he still had no control over that, he decided to wear clothing that fit both of his forms and wouldn't require a change. As such he was wearing a brown pair of shorts and a brown shirt, both of which worked for either of his forms, and he carried a cane that revealed that he was a member of the Cooper Gang, since they were the only ones that carried this type of weapon, though he only used it when he needed to knock someone out.
"Good, good... the Thunder Flop knows neither friend nor foe, only destruction." Murray said, though he looked rather pleased with himself, which was understandable since he was fully adapted to his new persona and responsibilities, which actually worried Bentley a little, though he said nothing about it.
"Yeah, could you maybe channel some of that 'raw energy' into this security gate?" Gilda commented, getting them back to the task at hand as she beckoned to the gate that was right behind Murray and Diz, as they needed Murray to open it so they could move forward.
"Of course, it is nothing before 'The Murray'." Murray stated, to which he grinned as he turned towards the gate and slipped his fingers under the bottom of it, where he braced himself and carefully pulled it up, moving it to a position where everyone could slip under the halfway opened gate.
As the group walked out to the balcony, and Murray joined them, both Gilda and Derpy noticed something that they hadn't seen earlier, when they were staring at the building that the Clockwerk parts were supposed to be housed in, there was already an opening resting in the barred window. That automatically told them that something was wrong, so when they noticed it resting there, and Sly spotted it a moment later, all three of them pulled the plug on the operation and had Murray, Derpy, and Diz head back to the van, so they could pick Bentley up. At the same time Sly and Gilda, deciding to see if any information was left behind, carefully crossed over the rope that was in front of them and made their way into the building. As they did that, and found an area that had definitely been made ready for the Clockwerk parts, they not only found that all of the parts had been taken, maybe before they even knew that they were being brought to this museum, but they also discovered that Carmelita and her partner were present... to which the two siblings hid behind some crates and observed the duo for a moment.
Carmelita's partner happened to be a bengal tiger with pink and purple colored fur, though the sisters knew that her name was Neyla, based on what Carmelita told them, and she happened to be wearing brown shorts, a blue tank top, a red and gold hooded cape, and flat shoes. Despite the fact that neither of the sisters actually played video games, as they mostly watched Murray, Bentley, and Sly do that, they could tell that the overall look that Neyla was going for resembling a video game archaeologist. It was rather strange, since she was supposed to be an Interpol detective, and her weapon of choice was odd as well, since it happened to be a heavy whip, one that looked like it could hurt if she lashed out at someone, which told the sisters that they had better stay out of her way. What really caught Sly and Gilda's attention was the fact that neither Carmelita or Neyla were bothering to hide themselves at the moment, which made sense considering that the parts had been stolen recently... and that they seemed to be talking about something important, something that Sly knew they needed to know before they left the museum.
Gilda, knowing what was going through Sly's mind at the moment, decided that it was okay for her to use a little bit of her wind magic to brush Carmelita's leg, letting her know she was standing near the window without revealing herself or causing Carmelita to turn towards her... which could, in turn, give them the information they needed on who might have stolen the Clockwerk parts, so they could steal them back.
"So, Carmelita, do you think it was the Cooper Gang that made off with the Clockwerk parts?" Neyla asked, though her tone indicated that she was disgusted about something, but Sly and Gilda had the feeling that it was either directed towards the gang or towards Carmelita herself.
"No, it isn't the Coopers." Carmelita replied, as there were a number of things that had happened when the Clockwerk parts had been hauled off that didn't match what the gang did, and even then none of them had said anything about striking the day that they did, "The entrance was messy and there were guard casualties... if this had been a Cooper Gang operation they would have knocked them out."
"Of course you would know that, given your history with them." Neyla said, her tone indicating that she might know something that she shouldn't, though at the same time she glanced at Carmelita and noticed that she was deep in thought about something, "Based on what we saw, I would have to guess that we're dealing with the Klaww Gang."
"And how much do we know about them?" Carmelita inquired, mostly because she was curious as to what they knew about the gang, as she had been focused on the Coopers since her first run in with Sly, but also because this could be what a certain someone was looking for, "I only ask because I have been focusing my attention on Sly and his sisters."
"Unfortunately, we don't know much about them, save for the fact that they deal in illegal spice," Neyla replied, though her tone told anyone that was listening that she was disgusted with the fact that Carmelita was focused solely on the Cooper Gang, "and that they prefer violence over all other methods they could have used. So far we've been able to guess at two suspected members of their gang; Rajan, who might be located somewhere in India, and Dimitri Lousteau, who apparently has a completely legitimate nightclub in Paris."
"Well, it's a good start." Carmelita commented, though at the same time she felt Gilda's wind disappear rather suddenly, indicating that she had heard everything Neyla had said and was going to relay it to the others, meaning that she'd be following after them soon enough.
Gilda didn't say a word as she and Sly left the building, to which she unfurled her wings and carried Sly back towards the area that the van was in, where they would be able to meet up with Derpy, Bentley, Murray, and Diz, who were going to be interested in hearing what happened to the Clockwerk parts. She found it odd that the parts were already in the hands of another evil gang, one that that struck the museum before anyone had known that the pieces of the ancient owl were going to be put on display there. That told Gilda that there had to be a mole in Interpol, one that had to be working for his Klaww Gang, but even if that was true it didn't chance the fact that the gang knew who they needed to go after so they could get the pieces of Clockwerk back, as there was no telling what the individual members of the gang had planned for the parts they had taken. No one said anything as Murray turned on the van and they headed for Paris, the area that Dimitri was supposed to be operating in, as they were a little sore over missing their chance to get all the parts, but that only motivated them to do their best to take down the Klaww Gang.
None of them were sure what they were going to find when they eventually tracked down Dimitri, in terms of what he was using whatever parts of Clockwerk he had taken, but they planned on being ready for anything and everything he might throw at them... as they would be taking his pieces away from him in due time.
It took Sly a few days to figure out where Dimitri was operating, and he had to call in a few favors that he wasn't willing to tell the rest of the gang about, but in the end he was able to determine that it was time well spent, because at the end of the day he had found where Dimitri's nightclub was located; the westside of Paris. He was also able to get some new information on their first target, who happened to be some sort of underworld celebrity that was equally at home in high-class art circles as he was in shady back-alley crimes. According to the information Sly was given they were able to figure out that Dimitri was once a passionate young art student, one that had worked hard to develop his own visionary style, but the art world wasn't quite ready for his 'Kinetic Aesthetic'. After a particular performance he started giving them what they wanted and started by forging old masterpieces, which was apparently his way of punishing those with bad taste, before eventually reaching the point that he was at now; operating a nightclub that had thumping music, colorful light shows, and a hint of danger that was meant to lure in chic young patrons from far and wide.
It was there, somewhere in his base of operations, that the Clockwerk Tail Feathers were located, as one of Sly's favors had actually revealed what Dimitri had taken from the ancient bird and what Rajan, their next target, had walked away with, but they put that in a file and placed it to the side, so they could focus on Dimitri.
Bentley, now armed with the information on Dimitri's whereabouts, was able to find an abandoned building that was literally right across the street from the entrance of the nightclub, one that had enough room for all of them and had a garage for Murray to park the van in. Sure, the garage was large enough for a few more vehicles, but since they only had the one they decided to let Murray have the rest of the space so he could work on the van or do whatever he wanted when he wasn't off doing his tasks to help them take out Dimitri. While he and Bentley were moving the van, and most of the gear, into position, Sly, Gilda, Derpy, and Diz used the rooftops to explore the part of Paris that they were in a little, to understand the sized of the nightclub itself, before they headed back to the building that they were taking over for the duration of this operation. When they arrived they found that a large table had been set up, with some chairs and some other essentials resting around the room, but for the most part it was all stuff that could be packed away in a hurry if they needed to flee quickly, which would happen once they had the Tail Feathers.
Upon their return Bentley had an interesting and completely unexpected surprise waiting for them, as the moment Sly opened the door he found Carmelita standing near Bentley, discussing what she knew about Dimitri and the nightclub with him... but instead of her usual attire, which Sly was used to seeing, she was wearing what appeared to be the attire of a Cooper thief, complete with the same coloration of his own clothing, while also showing off her stomach like her usual clothing. Resting off to the side was a mask, the same that Gilda and Derpy wore when they were on the job, and a pair of canes that looked like his, only they were half the size and had smaller hooks on the top. Carmelita, for whatever reason, was dressed up as a thief from Sly's gang, confusing Sly at the moment, since this hadn't been mentioned to him and he had no idea how to take it without questioning everything.
"Carmelita?" Sly asked, deciding that they could spend a few minutes talking so he could figure out what was going on, though at the same time Bentley and Carmelita stopped discussing whatever they were talking about and turned towards the door as Sly's group entered the building, "What's going on?"
"Well, Bentley informed me that you guys were going after the Clockwerk parts and I told Secretary Sen the news," Carmelita replied, though at the same time she took a seat and stared out the window, where Sly realized she was staring at the nightclub and was likely thinking about it's owner, "he also told me when you guys were planning on arriving here and when, in his estimates, you might be making your move on Dimitri. Secretary Sen told me that it would take a few hours for our forces to be ready for any sort of action on the nightclub, giving us plenty of time to pull off whatever plan you guys come up with. And, since being a cop would draw too much attention and the Secretary gave me permission, I decided to change my attire for this part of the operation... I figured that, with Diz being a new addition to the team, no one would think twice if the Cooper Gang suddenly had another member added to their ranks."
"Let me get this straight," Derpy said, as while she understood what was going on she was having a hard time believing that Carmelita, who was a cop, would willing switch sides like that, even though she understood the reasoning behind the decision, "Are you telling us that this is an Interpol operation? And that Secretary Sen is allowing you to take such an active role in hunting down the Clockwerk parts?"
"Yes, because Secretary Sen had a thought about the Clockwerk parts," Carmelita answered, to which she turned her attention back towards Sly, as when she heard this piece of information she wondered if she should have called the Secretary insane, but had decided not to, especially since she knew a fair number of magic users, "He's worried that the Klaww Gang might accidentally put Clockwerk's body back together, one way or another, and resurrect the ancient owl, since he's sure that Clockwerk's soul is still attached to his body."
"The possible resurrection of Clockwerk... that's not a nice thought to have." Sly said, to which he sighed as the rest of his group took a seat around the table, before he smiled and looked at the assembled gang that rested in front of him, as he felt it was fair to add Carmelita to that count, "Okay, then we had best get to work. Now, since there's seven of us, that means we'll have to split up into teams to tackle every mission that we take on before we figure out how to get at the Clockwerk Tail Feathers."
"Speaking of missions, I already have one ready to go," Bentley commented, causing the group to turn towards him for a moment, as he was the brains of the operation and had a good idea of what they needed to do before they could create any real plans, "I've installed a special antenna on the top of this building, one that will allow us to hack into Dimitri's satellite array... and I've already loaded the coordinates to the mission start point into your binocucom. Once you're there I'll tell you the rest of my plan, and then you can do what you do best."
"Well then, let's get the party started." Sly said, to which he turned to head towards the door, though before he even took a step he made sure to stop when he was facing Carmelita, who looked up at him for a moment, "Carmelita, would you like to join me on your first official Cooper Gang mission?"
"Sly, of course I would like to join you." Carmelita replied, though before she slipped on the mask, and truly took on the new persona she and Secretary Sen had created for such an occasion, she kissed Sly on the cheek for a moment, before she donned the mask, picked up her miniature canes, and walked through the door.
Sly stood there for a moment, thinking about how thankful he was that something had brought him and Carmelita together in such a manner, before swinging his cane as he headed out the door as well, to which the two of them climbed the pipe that was next to the door and climbed up to the roof of the building. The short climb up to the roof gave Sly the chance to see that Carmelita's movements mimicked his own, which made sense considering that she had been chasing him and his gang over the years, but then he decided to test her out a little bit. As such he jumped over the gap between the building they had taken and the one near them, as well as walking over a rope to a third building, Carmelita surprised him by showing that she could follow his movements. Sure, he was surprised by the fact that Carmelita was moving like a Cooper could, one that was still training anyway, but at the same time he didn't mind her abilities, as he had considered teaching her some of them at some point, just so she could make the chases they did after every heist even funner for the two of them... but instead of focusing on that he turned his mind to the task at hand, as there would be time to applaud her skills later.
It didn't take the two of them long to reach the area that Bentley had marked as the area where he would tell them the rest of the mission that he wanted them to undertake, though as Sly pulled out his binocucom he noticed that Carmelita had one, no doubt created by Bentley, that she pulled out as well... though they stood in an area where Dimitri's guards wouldn't see them until they had moved from the area.
"Sly, I need you and Carmelita to hack into Dimitri's communication array so that we'll have access to his database." Bentley said, though part of his voice revealed that he found it odd to be telling a cop, even one that was technically undercover at the moment, to break the law, while Sly found that Carmelita didn't even show any annoyance towards the task they were being told to do.
"And how are we supposed to do that?" Carmelita asked, surprising Sly by the fact that she was the one to ask the question on what they needed to do, but he said nothing as Bentley started to reply to the question.
"To start, you'll need to get to the top of that tower." Bentley replied, to which their binocucoms zeroed in on the water tower that was near their current location, one where a rat guard was occasionally seen walking around the base of the structure, "Then reposition the satellite dish to point at my safe house antenna. Once you have done that I'll send you two the positions of the remaining two satellites, and then we'll have access to his entire database."
"We'll get to work right away." Sly said, though even as he put his binocucom down, and glanced around for Carmelita, he found that she was already heading over to the water tower and slipped in behind the rat guard the moment he passed by the pipe that would let them climb up to the top of the structure, "...she's faster than I remember..."
Carmelita put her miniature canes away and latched onto the pipe that was attached to the water tower, where she climbed up to the top of the structure and walked over to the satellite dish that happened to be up there, to which she tapped a few of the controls and watched as the dish turned until it was pointing at the safe house... though once that was done she jumped down to the street and walked back over to where Sly was standing.
"So, how'd I do?" Carmelita asked, though at the same time she smiled, as she could tell that Sly was shocked by the fact that she had taken part of their mission head on and completed it the way a Cooper would, once more proving Neyla right that she knew the Cooper Gang better than anyone else did.
"You doing well, for this being your first time in the field with us." Sly replied, to which he thought back to the times where he wasn't at the warehouse, and the rest of his gang was, and wondered if his sisters had a hand in helping Carmelita get to this point, "Maybe by the time we've gathered all the Clockwerk parts, and figured out what we're going to do with them, you'll choose to go by Carmelita 'Cooper', instead of Carmelita Fox."
"Don't push it Sly." Carmelita said, though where one would assume that she would have been annoyed by that statement, since she was a cop first most days, she didn't show any signs of annoyance, rather she actually seemed to like the idea of being part of his family, "This is only temporary... and besides, we still have two more satellites to reposition so Bentley can figure out what the gang needs to do next."
Sly nodded and the two of them headed up to the roof of the building that they had used to reach this part of the city, where they carefully followed the path that they had taken to reach the water tower and headed back towards the safe house, before they ran off to the building behind the safe house. The reason behind that decision was because of the satellite that was near it, to which Sly tapped the controls this time around and soon enough the dish was pointed at Bentley's antenna. With that done the two of them continued towards the third beacon that they was near them, though as they walked across the roofs, and enjoyed being alone for a few moments, Sly briefly noticed that there were some clue bottles scattered all over the place. This time around he paid them no mind, as there really was no reason for them to gather the clues, but at the same time he reflected to tell his sisters about it, because he was sure that they were going to get bored of waiting around and doing nothing... though a few moments later he and Carmelita approached the third satellite and made sure that the dish was pointed at the antenna.
With their task complete Sly and Carmelita stood there for a few seconds, as they knew that Bentley was working on seeing what Dimitri had for them to use against him, or at the very least where the gang might be able to strike so they could open a way to wherever the Tail Feathers were located.
"Nice work you two." Bentley said, though this time his tone revealed that he was pleased with their progress, where both Sly and Carmelita could hear him tapping on some keys while he stared at his computer, "I'm downloading from Dimitri's mainframe as we speak!"
"All in a night's work." Sly replied, though as he spoke he noticed that Carmelita was standing close to him, where he smiled and stood close to her as well, just in case they had nothing to do and could spend a few moments together on the roof, even though his instincts told him otherwise, "So, where do we go from here?"
"Your next job is to break into the nightclub and take some reconnaissance photos of the Clockwerk Tail Feathers." Bentley informed them, as he already knew that they were eager to spend a few more minutes with each other and see what it would have been like if they were on the same time of the law for a change, "To get inside, you'll have to sneak in through an old wine cellar beneath town."
"Okay, we're heading over to the location of the wine cellar." Carmelita said, once more surprising Sly, as he was expecting her to have a problem or two with breaking into the nightclub in such a way, but it seemed that since this was an Interpol operation, and she had been given permission by a Secretary to do what needed to be done to stop Clockwerk from coming back to life, she was able to look passed the laws she was breaking.
Fortunately the entrance of the wine cellar was near the building that they were standing on, to which the two of them jumped down to the street level once more, crossed the street itself, and opened the door to the wine cellar, though as they did that they found that Murray was standing nearby... meaning that Bentley had known this was coming and sent him as backup for part of this mission, even if they didn't need any assistance.
"Sly, Carmelita, it's good to see that you two are alright." Murray said, his tone saying that he half expected them to be fighting with each other over something or have been hurt by one of the guards, but he smiled as she glanced at the path that was in front of them, "I guess the way through the wine cellar is guarded by those rats. Bentley thought you two might like some help clearing them out."
"That's thoughtful of him," Carmelita replied, though this time around she readied her miniature canes, indicating that she was ready for a fight and surprised Murray for a moment, who ended up chuckling as the three of them walked forward and ambushed the guards.
The rat guards, despite their numbers, clearly weren't expecting anyone to come down here and try anything, as the first few went down without even offering a fight, though the ones that followed them, now alert to the presence of the trio, were ready for some action. While Sly swung his cane, and knocked out his targets with some precise attacks, he noticed that Carmelita used her miniature canes in the same manner, hitting her opponents where Sly did and knocked them out as well. It was impressive, he had to admit that, but it also meant that she had really been learning how he and his family moved through the various areas and how they fought those that they came across, save for specific people like the members of the Fiendish Five or Dimitri. Murray, of course, slammed his fists into his opponents, hitting them with enough force to knock them out, until eventually all of the guards had been dealt with, to which he ran over to the barred wall that the guards had been protecting and grabbed a nearby lever... one that, when he pulled it up, created an opening that Sly could easily jump through with the double jump skill he had, which Carmelita did as well.
Once the two of them were on the other side of the gate, and Murray said he'd be back at the safe house, they carefully continued along the tunnel that was in front of them, as they had to avoid the moving laser walls that lined the tunnel and even crawled under some tables to move forward. The tables not only gave them the ability to move through the laser walls, but it also gave them the ability to stealthy move pass by the warthog guards that stood guard over the second half of the tunnel, who were also carrying flashlights. Despite the fact that Sly knew he and Carmelita could take them, if such a thing were to happen, he also knew that the sound of a fight would draw the attention of the guards further down the hallway and they'd be caught. As such they carefully moved around the warthog guards as they made their way down the remainder of the hallway, where they eventually reached a vent that the two of them climbed through, until they came out in a dressing room that was part of the nightclub... and, at the entrance of this room, was another warthog guard standing in front of a stable laser wall, one that Sly recognized immediately.
"What are we supposed to do now?" Carmelita quietly asked, as this wasn't something she had come across when she was chasing Sly and the rest of the gang, but at the same time she knew the look in Sly's eyes well enough to know that he must have an idea on how to move forward.
"We knock him out." Sly quietly replied, to which he gestured to the warthog's hands for a moment, where Carmelita saw that the guard was holding a flashlight in one hand and a device that seemed to be linked to the laser wall, "If we knock him out we can use the device he's holding to take out the laser wall, where he'll report it as him falling asleep on the job and accidentally pressing the button, or making up some lie to protect himself."
Carmelita was surprised to hear that the method in question was the same thing that the Cooper Gang did to the majority of the guards they came across, which made sense when she thought about it, to which she nodded and the two of them silently approached the warthog. The guard barely had a second to register what was going on as both Sly and Carmelita struck him at the same time, knocking him out cold in the process, to which Sly tapped the button with the guard's finger, leaving behind no evidence that he was even here, before they entered the actual nightclub. Fortunately the part of the nightclub they were in appeared to be closed for the night, meaning they might have a clear shot at the area that the Tail Feathers were stored in, though to move forward they had to take out a second warthog in the same manner as the first one. From there they found a foyer area with two rat guards carefully patrolling the area, to which the two of them smiled for a moment as they separated from each other and knocked out the guards that were in their way, before approaching the stage and crawled into the vent that was by the piano.
Luck was definitely on their side this time around, because that vent in question happened to drown them down into a metallic observation area that allowed them to stare at the heart of Dimitri's operation, where they could see the iguana walking around the upper walkway as they located the Tail Feathers... which were being used as printing plates, based on the machinery that was around them.
"I must say, that's some smart thinking," Carmelita commented, her voice loud enough for Sly to hear her while also being soft enough so that it didn't tell Dimitri that someone had found out his dirty secret, though at the same time she pulled out her binocucom and started taking some pictures of their target, the Clockwerk part he took, and the generator that rested in the middle of the room, "From what the experts can tell Clockwerk's body is made out of some sort of rare alloy, one they can't even begin to figure out what it's made out of, so using the Tail Feathers like this means that they'll never wear out... and Dimitri will have unlimited forged money for as long as they're in his possession."
"I say it's time we put a quick end to his plans." Sly said, to which Carmelita nodded her agreement, as this was the sort of thing she was trying to stop from her side of the law, before she finished taking all the pictures that Bentley needed for his studies.
The instant Carmelita took the last picture she put her binocucom away and the two of them started to retrace their steps back to the wine cellar they had come from, allowing them to slip out of the nightclub and make their way back to the safe house without Dimitri knowing they were even there.
Despite the fact that their first pair of missions for this operation, which happened to be Carmelita's first pair of missions as a member of the Cooper Gang, all Bentley was able to come up with, from the photos and what he had learned when Gilda and Derpy flew around town to collect the thirty clue bottles that Dimitri had scattered around the place, was that a direct assault was impossible. He concluded that they needed additional information so they could understand Dimitri's operation better, which would then allow them to properly plan a real operation to get at the Tail Feathers and escape before Interpol showed up. His current plan was for one group to take a bugged painting and switch it with the one that was inside Dimitri's office, meaning they would be able to listen in on some of his conversations and figure out where to hit next, though a secondary objective was for someone to tail the iguana if anyone saw him, as that might reveal another weakness for them to exploit.
Bentley and the others also congratulated Carmelita on a job well done, meaning that, if she ever decided that being a cop was no longer to her liking, they would be more than happy to let her permanently join the gang, though while she blushed at that comment she focused on the task at hand... figuring out the weaknesses of the operation so they could bust Dimitri and steal the Tail Feathers from him.
The instant Bentley informed them of what they needed to do, which was only two missions at the moment, Gilda decided to tackle handling the bugged painting that Bentley had pointed out while Derpy, on the other hand, would fly around the area and see if she couldn't find Dimitri anywhere. That gave Sly and Carmelita the chance to relax as they waited to see what happened next, though while Diz clearly felt left out, since everyone seemed to be doing something, Bentley was quick to assure him that he'd have a chance to do something soon enough. As such the sisters walked out of the safe house and took to the skies, though while Gilda quickly returned to the ground when she spotted the area that the bugged painting was in she noticed that Derpy was still flying around the nightclub, hunting for Dimitri. As Gilda landed on the street, and made absolutely sure that there weren't any guards around, she took a moment to stare at the painting that was supposed to be a 'Dimitri Original', though at the same time Bentley had quickly explained that it was definitely a forgery.
She glared at the painting for a few seconds, as she didn't understand why people would like the picture of the screaming person that had been painted onto the canvas, but she said nothing about that as she silently pulled out her binocucom and readied herself for the rest of Bentley's briefing on the mission.
"Gilda, while Sly and Carmelita were busy earlier I managed to outfit this forged painting with a bug." Bentley explained, revealing that he feared that they might need more information and had prepared himself ahead of time, which was paying off right now, "I need you to sneak into Dimitri's office and swap it with the original."
"And then we'll be able to listen in on his communications?" Gilda inquired, as she understood what the plan was supposed to be, but she figured that letting Bentley repeat himself sometimes would reveal any additional information about a mission and calm his nerves down more than they already were.
"Yes, I thought things might go more smoothly with an ear on the inside." Bentley said, though before Gilda made a move she heard something on the other end, but while she didn't catch what was said she stopped anyway, as she figured there might be even more for her to learn, "Sly also reminded me to tell you to be a little careful with the fine art, because if you can get it back here in one piece I might be able to sell it on Thief-Net and get some cash for the future."
Gilda nodded and carefully slipped her cane into the holder on her back, where she generally stored it when she was flying and wanted both of her hands free, before she gently lifted the painting from it's resting place and turned towards the street that was in front of her. Fortunately she had one advantage that Dimitri never compensated for, as she opened her wings and carefully flew over to the window that would allow her to enter the part of the nightclub that held Dimitri's office, and likely his vault as well. After opening the window, and climbing inside the building, she found that there were a number of janitor rats in front of the door that led to Dimitri's office, though since Bentley was sure that it was locked from the other side, and told her that when she entered the building, she could always use the indirect approach and make her way across the floor, up a railing, around the wall of the room, and then reach the vent so she could get into the office and place the painting. With the number of guards in the way she was sure that one of them could score a lucky hit on her and destroy the painting, as there was a few more than one person could take without using magic, and made would also cause damage to what she was carrying... so her best bet was to do what she always did when a situation like this presented itself to her, causing her to smile for a moment.
She opened her wings and carefully made her way over to the area that the vent was in, making as little noise as possible when she beat her wings, but fortunately the guards seemed to be more interested in their portable music players than to keep an eye out for intruders. That allowed her to slip into the vent without even being detected, to which she carefully made her way through the small vent and dropped into Dimitri's office, exactly where the vault was located, but before she looted the vault she switched her bugged painting for the real deal. With the bugged painting in place, and the real one now in her possession, Gilda stopped by the vault and input the code that Bentley told her, which happened to be 2-3-1, to which she discovered a piece of equipment that allowed someone, who was using a dive attack, to render a target unconscious. She wasn't sure if that was useful or not, but since it was in Dimitri's vault she seized it, replaced it with the calling card, and closed the door so Dimitri wouldn't know it was missing unless he checked the safe out for himself, before she carefully made her way back to the window she used to enter the building... though as she did so she marveled at how loud the janitor rats had their music, as there was no way they could have heard her with as loud as their music was, no doubt trying to combat the music of the nightclub itself.
Once she was back outside, and away from the building, the first thing she did was fly back to the safe house and offload the painting she had taken from Dimitri's office, before she flew out again and tracked down the three remaining 'treasure' items that she had seen earlier. A few minutes later she returned to the safe house with a crystal chalice, an ivory jewel box, and a jade vase, all of which Bentley could sell later on, to fund their future operations against the remaining members of the Klaww Gang. Once she returned the treasures to Bentley, however, the group heard some guards talking about a recent email that was sent to their boss, where Bentley quickly dug through the data he had and found the email. It revealed that Dimitri, after visiting the area that the Clockwerk Tail Feathers were located in, had moved to a boat and was waiting there for some time, to which Bentley told Gilda to find Derpy and inform her of where her target was located while he finished reading the email. As such Gilda headed outside the safe house and flew around the area, hunting for her sister, though she found Derpy sitting near the water tower, observing a few guards that happened to be talking to each other.
From what she could tell Derpy wasn't even interested in what the guards were talking about, making her wonder why she was staring at them, before she landed behind her and tapped her on the shoulder, pulling her away from where she was sitting and beckoned her to the only boat in the area.
"What's so special about that boat?" Derpy asked, as she was staring at it while she and Gilda approached it, while at the same time they were connected to Bentley and the others in the safe house, "I stared at it a few times while I was looking for Dimitri and determined that he wasn't in this area."
"Actually, he's aboard that boat at this very moment," Bentley replied, to which an annoyed look appeared on Derpy's face for a moment, which only Gilda could see since she was the only one out here, before he got to the interesting point he had found in the email, "He's ordered his guards to ring the boat's bell when the coast is clear. Whatever that's supposed to mean is unclear to me, but you should ring the bell and follow him... he might reveal something to us that we can use against him."
Gilda and Derpy looked at each other as they started beating their wings, though while Gilda took to the air Derpy swung her cane and struck the bell in question, before flying up to where her sister was waiting and turned to look down at the boat once more. Not even a few seconds later Dimitri, in all his glory, emerged from the boat and started to walk into the area around his nightclub, in a route that he must have created to confuse any pursuers that might have been following him on the ground level. Clearly he must not have been expecting there to be anyone that could fly when he created this route, as Gilda and Derpy stared down at him and made sure Dimitri couldn't see them at all, even though he stopped every now and then so he could look around the area for anything out of the ordinary. The guards that he passed by saluted him, where he didn't question which one of them rang the bell like a smart boss would have, before they continued with whatever task they were supposed to be doing.
As Dimitri moved down some stairs, and reached a door that neither of the sisters had seen before, he started inputting a code that caused Derpy to raise her binocucom so they could record what was going on, where the code she captured was sent to Bentley... though she made sure to note which was the successful one, as that was the one that unlocked the door and allowed Dimitri to enter what appeared to be the club's aquifer.
"This might be useful for the heist!" Bentley said, seeing exactly what the sisters were staring at, before he said something to someone that was near him for a few seconds, to which Gilda and Derpy remained by the door as they waited for him to finish speaking, "I'm sending Murray and Diz to take care of the aquifer."
Gilda and Derpy waited for a few minutes, making sure the area was secure for the moment, before Murray and Diz came running up to where they were standing, to which they moved out of the way as Diz entered the code that Bentley had given them and opened the door... allowing him and Murray to enter the aquifer while Gilda and Derpy retreated to the safe house to relax until they were needed again.
Diz and Murray followed the path that was in front of them until they were forced to stop, as there was a laser wall in front of them and it was currently blocking the way forward, even though Diz could see a power box of some kind on the other side of the wall. Since he knew that if he fired a magical charge at the laser wall, even if it struck his target, it would set off the alarm for a moment and, even if the charge was able to slip through the lasers without the alarm going off, Interpol would be able to figure out that he was here. His magic always left some sort of impact behind, which was one reason why he liked to team up with Murray since their attacks usually left an impact, but he was also a Cooper and they didn't leave traces behind, save for people like Murray. It was confusing for him, as he was trying to merge the two into a successful unit that gave him the best of both worlds, but for now he was stuck with seeing what they might be able to do... which involved them both raising their binocucoms so they could talk with Bentley.
"Murray, I need you and Diz to make your way back to the aqua pump room and sabotage it." Bentley stated, seeing the connection between him and their binocucoms, allowing him to brief them on their mission as he continued to sift through the information that was in front of him.
"Geez, I don't know." Murray said, staring at the laser wall that was in their way, as he knew that he couldn't punch his way through something like that and Diz had his reasons for not wanting to use his magic, "How am we supposed to get past these lasers?"
"Maybe you could pick something up and hurl it at that power box?" Diz offered, to which he lowered his binocucom and glanced at the ice dispenser that was resting to their left, which already had a block of ice waiting to be used in whatever manner someone had planned, "The force of the impact might be enough to damage it, maybe even destroy it, before the alarm goes off."
Murray looked at Diz for a moment, clearly thinking about what he said, before putting his binocucom away and walked over to the machine in question, where he lifted the ice block out of the dispenser, turned around so he could face his target, and hurled the block through the laser wall, where it slammed into the power box and shattered into pieces. For a moment Murray thought he had done nothing to the machine, that his efforts were pointless, before he noticed that the power box had several dents in it, indicating that his attack had worked. Once that happened Diz encouraged him to take another swing at it, to which he lifted a heavy chair, one that happened to be resting nearby, and hurled it at the power box, damaging it even further, before he hurled a barrel and it and smashed the power box to pieces. With that out of the way the laser wall powered off and they were free to move forward, to which Diz and Murray smiled at each other as they stopped at the next laser wall... which didn't last very long this time around, though that was because Murray was ready for the challenge and quickly smashed the power box with three more items, allowing them to advance again.
When they rounded the corner they found one of the warthog guards standing on a ledge, blocking the way forward, but Murray grabbed an ice block and hurled it at the guard, knocking him out in the process while at the same time allowing the two of them to jump up to the ledge he was on, bypass the moving lasers that were behind him, and enter a room that happened to have the very pump they were looking for. Diz studied the pump for a moment, looking for any weaknesses they might be able to exploit, while Murray knocked out the rat guard that hadn't been paying attention to the entrance they walked through, before he found what he was looking for. He accurately pinpointed the various areas of the pump that Murray needed to destroy, to which moved out of the way and let Murray go to town on the machine, smashing the various parts of the pump until they were no longer operational, though while he did that Diz used his cane to surprise and knock out any guards that tried to investigate what was going on in the area. Fortunately Murray was a fast worker and the pump was beat up until it was no longer operational, to which they retreated from the pump room while hearing Bentley comment about how the guards would be forced to pump water from the old water tower.
They both knew that the guards were going to be rather upset with the destruction of the water pump, and that Dimitri was likely going to be furious, but at least this was getting them one step closer to assembling a plan to take back what the forger had stolen.
A few minutes later, when Murray and Diz got back to the safe house and noticed that everyone was present, Bentley informed them that they were now ready to begin setting things up for the heist, where they would need to complete a few more jobs before they could walk away with the Tail Feathers. From what they were told someone was going to have to pick a few pockets in the theater so that they would have access to the spotlight control center, so that way they would be able to turn off all the security around the printing press. Murray's next job involved taking out all the exterior alarm horns that were in the area, as they didn't want anything to alert the guards when they decided to put the operation into effect later on. In addition to those two things they also needed to break into the discothèque to drop the mirror ball, where Bentley explained that it was all part of the plan and that, when all three of those tasks were completed, they would be ready for the heist.
While they were figuring out who would be taking which mission, however, Sly headed outside so he could see if there was anything else that could be done to improve their chances, as getting the key to the area that the mirror ball was in would be a huge help, and Carmelita followed after him... though when they were halfway there, taking the long way around, an unexpected arrival stopped them in their tracks.
"Hold it, Cooper!" a voice said, to which Sly and Carmelita stopped in their tracks as Neyla, with her whip at the ready, landed in front of them, though while she stood up she glared at Carmelita, where she didn't seem to recognize her, but Carmelita decided to take no chances and kept her mouth shut.
"Constable Neyla," Sly commented, knowing that if Neyla figured out that Carmelita was standing next to him bad things could happen, as Neyla struck him as the type of person that would use whatever advantage she had to tear others down and move through the ranks of Interpol, "another policewoman that happens to be hot on my tail."
Carmelita knew what Sly meant the instant he said those words, as they didn't have the usual flirtiness that he used when he found someone attractive, though that was mostly because she had responded well to his advances this time around and his edge around other ladies had gone away... meaning that this was him saying that there was another Interpol officer that happened to be following his every move.
"Please, I led you and your little gang here." Nelya said, her tone revealing that she found it funny that Sly though he knew everything, even though Carmelita knew that the two of them had given the Coopers everything they needed to come to this area in the first place, "When Carmelita and I were investigating the area the Clockwerk parts had been stored in I smelled you when you and one of your sisters entered through the opening in the window, and I only know you were there because of my predator senses, and they never lie. Besides, I see that you've found another orphan to add to your ever growing 'family' of thieves... one that instantly reminds me of Carmelita."
"Neyla, this is Kate Cooper." Sly said, to which he waved a hand towards Carmelita for a moment, knowing that he had to act fast before Neyla asked Carmelita to say something, which would ruin everything, before an idea came to her, "She's had problems speaking since she was a kid and she rarely says anything, though she's got talent to be a member of the Cooper Gang once she's done with her training."
"First you pick up two girls, who happened to be two of the rarest species in the world, to be your sisters, where one of them had messed up eyes until two years ago," Neyla commented, though her tone revealed that she couldn't believe what she was hearing, but the laughter that came from her, based on what she was saying, only annoyed Sly, which he hid since there had to be a reason she was bothering them, "then you take in one of Interpol's most troublesome pranksters, who has absolutely no idea who his parents are and doesn't care about responsibility, and now you've taken in a girl that not only can't speak, but also has the same last name as you and looks a lot like Carmelita? Sly Cooper, you are definitely one strange thief."
"Look, we don't have all day to talk about my gang," Sly stated, as right now he wasn't in the mood, as Neyla was ruining the operation with her mere presence, but he really didn't want her to figure out that Carmelita was standing beside him at the moment, "so let's get back to the point; why did you 'lead' us here?"
"I'm not as black-and-white as Carmelita." Neyla replied, once more glancing at Carmelita, who she was mentally labeling as 'Kate', before turning to look Sly in the eyes, indicating that she only cared for him and no one else at the moment, which annoyed Carmelita a little, "I know what a menace those Clockwerk parts are, and while I don't want the likes of the Klaww Gang putting them to use, for whatever schemes they've made up, I also don't trust Carmelita's faith that you can be trusted with them either. Personally, I think Interpol should have all the parts, but I'm not the superior officer at the moment, so I'll go with Carmelita's faith... for now. Besides, you and your gang can go places where we can't... not officially anyway."
"I'm sensing that you're challenging me to a race over the rooftops," Sly commented, as he wasn't as dumb as Neyla apparently thought he was, though her statements only made him wonder what she was trying to gain from making him, and by extension Carmerlita, angry.
"Do try to keep up." Neyla said, to which she started running over the rooftops and down into the streets around them, causing Sly and Carmelita to run after her, especially since the might have something they need for their own heist in the near future.
Sly and Carmelita followed Neyla as she ran a predetermined course through the area around Dimitri's nightclub, but along the way she had the habit of swinging her whip and striking at anything that was near her, breaking objects as they ran through an area or outright killing guards in the process. Sly made a mental note of each guard Neyla took down, so he and the others could remove them from the area and maybe even bury them, or send them home or do something so Interpol didn't find the dead bodies and assume the Cooper Gang was a bunch of killers now. Secretary Sen would be on their tails if he found out about that, no doubt to ask questions before either ripping the deal to pieces or just throw them in jail forever without any hope of getting out. That thought made Carmelita wonder if Neyla even knew that the Cooper Gang had such a powerful ally, one that could easily turn his gaze towards Neyla and ruin her career in an instant, but she said nothing as they moved around the nightclub... until they eventually reached the entrance to the area that the mirror ball was located in, where Neyla tossed Sly the key and left without a word.
As they headed back to the safe house, with the key in hand, Sly knew that something was fishy, as the majority of Neyla's moves were identical to the ones that were in the Thievius Raccoonus, but he couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to her than what they were seeing... and when they walked into the safe house, to hand Bentley the key Neyla had given them, he found that everyone was annoyed about something, indicating that they must have heard the conversation between them and Neyla.
"I don't trust her at all." Diz commented, though as he spoke he picked up a drink and handed it to Carmelita, who removed her mask and set down her miniature canes before taking a drink, "I know I've only met a few officers from Interpol, but I've never came across one that's all to ready to say she doesn't trust her superior officer or the decisions she's making on a matter."
"Her tone suggested that she doesn't trust us all that much," Gilda added, as when Neyla started mentioning the various members of their family, as that was what six of them were at the moment since Carmelita and Sly weren't actually dating yet, her anger towards Nelya grew a little, "and, based on what she said, Neyla seems to think that we're just a band of misfits that aren't worth her time... and yet she's assisting us for some reason."
"She's different than what she was at Interpol," Carmelita said, recalling how Neyla had acted before she left the building to how she had acted in front of Sly, while at the same time knowing that there was something wrong with her 'partner' at the moment, "We had better keep our eyes on Neyla, just in case we're right about her."
Sly didn't want to think that Neyla might actually have a plan for the gang, one that would put them in danger or something, but he agreed with Carmelita on the fact that they needed to keep an eye on her... and he knew that they would talk about this more, after they recovered the Clockwerk Tail Feathers and sent Dimitri to jail.
Since Carmelita was slightly annoyed by the fact that Neyla was nearby, and was likely either watching the Cooper Gang or waiting for them to make a move, she opted to remain in the safe house for now so she could prepare for the heist, as she'd be able to help with part of it before she needed to get back to the Interpol force that was coming this way. As such Bentley repeated the missions they needed to accomplish before they attempted the heist, where Murray and Diz would tackle the exterior air horns, Sly and either Gilda or Derpy would tackle the theater, and whichever sister didn't accompany Sly would come with him to drop the mirror ball. Once everyone knew what they were doing, and that Carmelita was fine with sitting a round out for now, Murray and Diz immediately headed out for the first of the exterior air horns, while at the same time Sly and Derpy moved out for the theater, leaving Gilda to wait for Bentley to be ready to leave. Bentley was remaining behind for now so he could tell the two groups what he needed them to do when they arrived at their mission areas, though when they were done he would have Gilda carry him to the door Neyla gave them the key to.
As such Murray and Diz carefully made their way through the streets outside the nightclub and avoided the guards that were all around them, as they didn't want to draw attention at the moment, before they arrived at the side of the building that allowed Gilda to enter where Dimitri's office was located... as that was the area that the first alarm horn was located in, where Diz noticed that it wasn't even guarded at all, but that didn't stop him from looking around for any guards that might be patrolling the area.
"Okay, Murray, that alarm horn will tip off Dimitri during our heist." Bentley said, speaking through their binocucoms, though while Diz was using his to look out for guards Murray was using his to stare at the alarm horn, just so he would know what they looked like before he started smashing them to pieces, "There are three of them out here, and I need you and Diz to take them out."
"Check!" Murray replied, as he was more than ready to start lifting things up and hurl them at his targets, because that seemed to be the best way to break things like the alarm horns and the power boxes he had broken earlier, and he was happy that Bentley was letting him smash things like this.
"This is going to take some serious muscle, Murray." Bentley stated, as while he knew that thieves preferred to leave nothing behind, or at least Sly was like that, he also knew that these alarm horns were sturdy and could take a decent amount of punishment before they broke, "You're the only guy on the team who can pull this off. You're going to need to pick some of the chairs and tables up to use them as ammunition for taking out those alarm horns, though Diz should be able to keep the guards off of you until you're ready to move onto the next target."
Murray nodded and carefully picked up the table that was near him, where he spotted Diz preparing himself for what he was about to do, before he hurled the table through the air and let it slam into the alarm horn, shattering the wood on the device while dealing damage at the same time. As he sought out the next projectile he could use to break the alarm horn, however, he noticed that some of the rat guards were already moving into position so they could investigate what was going on. Diz, on the other hand, was more than ready for them as he used his magic to get behind them and whack them with his cane, knocking them out in a matter of seconds, to which he smiled as he found some glowing pockets and took the loot that they were carrying with them, before turning back to the matter at hand. Murray chuckled for a moment as he hurled a chair at the alarm horn, as sometimes Diz was purely focused on whatever mission he was on and sometimes his attention became scattered when he found something interesting, like loot in someone's pocket... which he would have to ask him about later, once they were gone beating up the guards and had smashed the alarm horns.
When Murray destroyed the first alarm horn he joined Diz in beating up the rest of the guards, as they would make leaving the area harder than it needed to be, though once they were taken out the two of them headed towards the waypoint Bentley had programmed into their binocucoms. The moment they arrived at the second alarm horn, where Murray used some heavy duty news papers and some other items laying around the area, Diz found that there weren't any guards waiting for them this time around, as when Murray smashed the device he expected guards to come running to check out the noise. Since there weren't any guards he stood watch over the area, from the rooftop above them, and watched over Murray as he worked, though the instant the second alarm horn was taken out the third one appeared on their radars and they moved out immediately. The final alarm horn happened to be outside the gated area that the entrance to the mirror ball's location was in, though when Murray started smashing the device, using a briefcase full of counterfeit money as his first projectile, the guards moved in immediately, seeking to stop them from completing their mission... even if they had no idea what the mission was in the first place.
Fortunately between the two of them they were able to knock the guards unconscious and destroy the alarm horn in a matter of seconds, though as Bentley congratulated them on a job well done, since that would allow them to cut off Dimitri's way of figuring out what was happening when the heist happened... though as they headed back towards the safe house the two of them spotted Sly and Derpy heading into the theater so they could complete their mission.
Sly and Derpy used the door that was on the second story of the nightclub building to get into the theater, though before they did that they both spotted Murray and Diz taking out the last of the air horns for their mission, allowing them to head back to the safe house so they could prepare themselves for the heist. The theater itself appeared to be a nice place, with a stage that someone or a group could perform on and a number of tables resting around the area, though what surprised them was that there weren't a lot of guards patrolling the area. That told Sly that Dimitri either thought that the number he had stationed in this area was more than enough, or he had no idea how many guards were really needed here and this was his guess on what was necessary to guard the area. Either way the two of them were more than enough to take out the guards, though before they did anything they pulled out their binocucoms and let Bentley inform them of what they needed to do... before he and Gilda headed out for the area that the mirror ball was located in.
"Okay, Sly, there's the power boxes which route to the printing press area." Bentley said, causing their binocucoms to zero in on the devices that he was talking about, though at the same time they both knew that he had something else to tell them before they got started, "To take care of them, I need one of you to put a splice clip in those spotlights."
"There's a flaw in your plan Bentley," Derpy commented, seeing something that was going to complicate the mission, even though she could use her wings to get over the fans and put the splice clip in herself, but that would only annoy Bentley in the process, "those fans are spinning way to fast for us to walk on."
"They can be slowed down from this control panel..." Bentley replied, changing their view until they were staring at the panel in question, which was across from where they were standing at the moment, where both of them noticed some locks on the front of it, "but you'll have to do a lot of pickpocketing to get at it. The guards are carrying special fragile keys that will be destroyed if you attack, so make sure you pickpocket their keys before you knock them out."
Once Bentley had given them their objectives, and the duo heard the sounds of him preparing for his mission with Gilda, the connection between them and the safe house was disconnected and they got started on their task, though while Sly focused on using his cane to swipe the coins and key from the warthog guard in front of him Derpy descended to the floor below the entrance. On the lower level Derpy found two more guards walking around the area, though what she found interesting was that they were walking around the circular area that was in front of the stage and that they happened to be in line with each other, as when one stopped the other did as well. Despite that fact Derpy landed behind one of the guards and waited until he stopped, which was the moment she used her cane to swipe the coins and key from the guard's pocket before she knocked the guard out, to which she headed over to the second guard and repeated the process she used on the first one.
Sly, apparently seeing her work on the guards, dropped down into the area that she was standing in and headed behind the stage curtains, to which Derpy followed after him and watched as he made his way over to a switchboard and climbed up the pipe that was near him. From there he climbed up to the rafters that were above her, where she followed his movements as he silently reached a guard that happened to be watching television, so he had no idea that Sly was even there and had no idea that his key had been taken from him. Once that was done Sly dropped down to the area that Derpy was standing in and they headed to the right side of the stage, to where the makeup area was located, where the last two warthog guards were patrolling the area. Derpy, being able to get around the one that was walking up and down the stairs, opened her wings and moved towards the ceiling, where she flew over her target's head, landed behind him, and pickpocketed the key before knocking her guard out. At the same time Sly approached the guard that was on the lower level that he was on and waited until his target was showing him his back, where he picked the key from his pocket and knocked him out... before the two of them headed up to the control terminal that Bentley had pointed out and used the keys to turn the locks, allowing them to turn off the fans completely.
From there it was a simple matter for them, or more like Sly, to cross over to the central spotlights and slip the splice clip into position, where Bentley seized control over the machine to destroy the power boxes... though once that was done the two of them headed out of the theater and headed back to the safe house, but as they did so they spotted Gilda flying overhead with Bentley, indicating that they were now on their way to tackle the final mission before the heist.
Gilda and Bentley moved the moment Sly and Derpy were done seizing control of the spotlights in the theater, allowing Bentley to carry out the last part of that mission, though as Gilda flew over the area outside the nightclub, with Bentley holding tight to her, she spotted her siblings making their way back to the safe house. She made sure to move them over areas that the guards wouldn't be able to see them until they were already too far away to be seen, though when she reached the area that Bentley's mission was in she dropped down behind a guard, let Bentley down, and then knocked out the guard. The moment the guard was taken care of, and the golden watch he had been carrying was now in Gilda's pack, so that she could add it to the loot pile they were gathering back in the safe house, she turned towards Bentley and nodded her head, to which Bentley pulled out the key that Neyla had given them and paused as he wondered if they might be walking into a trap of some kind.
"Here goes nothing." Bentley said, to which he slipped the key into the lock and turned it, where his expression lightened as the locked turned, allowing them to unlock the door and head into the area of the nightclub that the mirror ball was located in.
The two of them walked through the door and found that their path was immediately blocked by something they should have been expecting, a laser wall that had a power terminal that was attached to the left side of the path, though the look on Bentley's face told Gilda that she didn't need to worry about the blockage.
"Okay, Bentley, to get past the laser fence, you'll need to blow it up." Sly said, speaking from the binocucom, which Bentley was now looking through as he stared at the obstruction, indicating that he was repeating what he had been doing to the others the entire time, "Since I know you made some explosives, and some of them are missing from the container you keep your gear in, I think you know what your doing, but I'll repeat the information anyway; just pull out a bomb, attach it to the side of the fence, and then get out of the way before it explodes."
Bentley didn't say anything as he pulled out one of the bombs in question, primed the timer, and attached it to the side of the fence, and backed away before the bomb detonated, tearing the structure apart so the two of them could move forward once more... where they found a warthog guard protecting the next fence.
"Bentley, maybe you should use one of your sleep darts on that guard." Gilda commented, to which Bentley nodded his head and lifted his crossbow up, to which he loosed one of the darts in question and let it fly through the air, hitting the guard in the chest a few seconds later.
The two of them watched as the guard started to stagger for a moment, taking a few steps away from the fence that he had been guarding, before he fell onto his side and stopped moving, to which Gilda stepped forward and made sure that he was still breathing... though once she had determined that he was out cold, and wouldn't be up for some time, she dragged him out of the bomb's radius and let Bentley blow the fence up, while also collecting the dart as well.
"Hey, Bentley, how're you holding up out there in the field?" Sly asked, though at the same time Bentley and Gilda continued to follow the path that was in front of them, allowing them to enter the part of the nightclub that their target was in, which wasn't had to spot at all.
"Fine, fine. I'm just fine." Bentley replied, though his tone indicated that, despite the fact that Gilda was wait him, he was still nervous about the situation he was in, almost as if Gilda wasn't even there, "I just need to bomb all the pillars supporting that disco ball and I can get out of here."
"You know, I've been meaning to ask about that." Gilda said, as Bentley hadn't actually revealed why dropping the mirror ball was so important, but at the same time she knew that it had to be important in some manner, "What's with you and wanting to drop the disco ball?"
"Its impact will shake the Nightclub's front peacock sign loose from its moorings..." Bentley started to say, though even though he decided to cut himself off, once more revealing that he was still nervous, Gilda understood enough to figure out what he was talking about, "Look, we can't talk now. We've got to keep moving, keep safe!"
Gilda wondered if Bentley forgot the part where he could dart anyone to sleep and the fact that she could summon the wind to defend them, but instead of saying anything she followed him as he moved into the area that the mirror ball was hanging in. As she followed him down the ramp that was in front of them Bentley moved to the left and placed one of his bombs against the support pillar he had been staring at a few moments ago, though when it detonated the structure broke and the support had weakened. After that they advanced up the ramp that was in front of them and Gilda ambushed the guard that was watching over the next support pillar and laser fence, though as she hauled him out of the way Bentley blew the two structures to pieces. The noise from the destruction of the laser fence forced a guard to come over to where they were, which Bentley knocked out with a sleep dart, though as he moved towards the third and fourth support pillars Gilda grabbed the dart and followed after him once more.
Fortunately there was only one more guard protecting the remaining two support pillars, so while Bentley placed bombs on the support pillars, and blew them to pieces, Gilda knocked out the guard that was patrolling the area... to which the two of them watched as the mirror ball dropped from it's perch and shattered on the floor, generating whatever Bentley was hoping for.
"Wow, Bentley, we felt that all the way back here at the safe house!" Sly immediately spoke up, revealing that they weren't the only ones that had felt the impact of the mirror ball, though at the same time Bentley and Gilda headed towards the entrance so they could begin the heist at last, "And you were right: the peacock sign had half of its bolts pop off on impact!"
Bentley smiled, as he was pleased that dropping the mirror ball had the desired effect he had been going for, before he and Gilda left this part of the nightclub and headed back to the safe house, as they had a heist to pull off and some Clockwerk parts to grab before Interpol showed up.
Bentley's plan was simple, so much so that the gang was a little surprised when they heard it, but it involved them using the now weakened peacock sign to smash their way into the area that the printing press was located in, allowing them to grab the Tail Feathers. Carmelita, of course, noted that this plan didn't involve a confrontation with Dimitri, though Sly assured her that the iguana was likely guarding the parts they were after, meaning that he, Gilda, and Derpy, maybe even Diz if he wanted to join them, were going to have to fight Dimitri before they could walk away with their prize. Since the forces from Interpol were getting closer to the nightclub, exactly like they had been expecting them to do, Bentley suggested that they get the operation underway so they didn't have a lot of people seeing them in action and breaking the rules that Secretary Sen put on them when they made the deal two years ago. As such he, Bentley, and Murray headed out to the water tower, where Murray would toss Bentley up into the entrance so he could shutdown the water in the fountain outside the nightclub, while at the same time Diz would be on the lookout for approaching guards.
Fortunately the three of them were able to complete that task without anything out of the ordinary happening, as no guards came running to check up on things, though at the same time Sly and Carmelita ambushed the guard that was carrying the keys to the repair truck, who was being called to fix the problem. With the keys in hand Carmelita got into the truck and started it up, to which she drove over to the area that Bentley wanted the truck in so that someone could catch the hook that was attached to the back of the vehicle. Once she was in position she climbed out of the truck and let Murray take over, not because she couldn't be a part of the operation more, but because her squad would be arriving soon and she needed to arrive with them, as an Interpol agent and not a thief. She also patted Sly on his arm, saying nothing before she turned tail and departed from the area, as she had no idea if Neyla was still watching and didn't want to give her 'partner' anything that she might be able to use against her at some point. Even as she walked away, however, she stopped for a moment and watched as Gilda and Derpy attached the hook to the top of the peacock sign, allowing them to bring it down and smash through what was apparently the roof of the printing press area.
Sly, Gilda, Derpy, and Diz headed right for the opening that was in front of them and dropped down into the area that the Clockwerk Tail Feathers were in, though sure enough they found Dimitri standing nearby, looking annoyed that they were even here and that they were wrecking his operation.
"Gah!" Dimitri said, sounding a little surprised by their sudden arrival, as if he wasn't expecting them until later or something, before he calmed himself down and stared at them, "So... Raccoonus Doodus, you and your little group are like totally bumming my house up and bringing me down. So very uncool. Why can't you let birds and bees be free, bro?"
"Because you're playing with something you know nothing about," Gilda replied, though at the same time she and the others readied their weapons, as they knew that this was going to break out into a fight, regardless of what any of them said in the next few seconds.
"And there's a certain bird that needs to stay dead." Derpy stated, her right hand moving up to her eyepatch for a moment, remembering the day Clockwerk stole her eye from her, before she growled and faced Dimitri, who had no idea what she had been doing.
"Look, bro. I see that you are a tough cowboy... a man with taste... style... vision... a connoisseur of finer things." Dimitri said, once more speaking to Sly while ignoring the others, but the look in his eye told them that he had heard them speak and that he was only interested in speaking with the leader of the Cooper Gang, "Like me. Look, I'm sure that two cats in a bag like us can work something out, yeah? We smoove, yeah? Look... see the money? You like the money? You can take all you want. I can..."
"No deal!" Sly answered, as he wasn't about to let himself be bribed by a counterfeiter, especially when they came to Dimitri's nighclub with a specific target in mind, and he wasn't going to leave without what they came for, "You and the rest of the Klaww Gang have to be stopped. Clockwerk will never again see the light of day. Just hand over the Tail Feathers and we can..."
"What is this with clocks, bro?" Dimitri asked, sounding annoyed about something, though at the same time that only confirmed that he had no idea what he and his gang had stolen from the museum, "Have you no vision? Are you hearing what I beam to you? You think you have juice? Don't show me a little mind when talking about such big things... you think you can swing the bat? Show your bling and let me shine you!"
"You know, none of us have any idea what you're saying." Diz said, as that was the honest truth, because it appeared that Dimitri had fallen to using phrases he had created since he created the nightclub, though at the same time he stared at the suit and one thought came to mind, "And personally, I think your suit sucks."
"Let's dance!" Dimitri screamed, though that was followed by him dashing backwards as he moved down to the area directly below the printing press, to which the four of them dropped down into the area and prepared for the fight they had been expecting since they put they came to the nightclub.
Dimitri's main method of ranged attacks was to fire blasts of energy from something on his wrist, though fortunately it could only fire three in a row and the fourth knocked it out of commission for a few seconds, allowing the four of them to make their way towards him before they hid behind the canisters that were around the area. When Dimitri's weapon failed to hit anyone the second time around he switched to trying to punch those that were near him and also tried to use his tail to hit them when he spun around. In response Sly, Gilda, Derpy, and Diz used their canes to attack him while they avoided his attacks, but a few seconds later he had enough of them and dashed over to the other side of the room so he could start firing at them again. From there it was a matter of repeating the same movements, as they could separate from each other and force Dimitri to pick one of them to fire at, but since he could only fire three shots, and missed every since time, it was easy for them to reach him again and continue their assault.
Fortunately Dimitri was only able to do that three times in a row, as after they dealt a good amount of damage to their opponent he dashed up to the machine and tried to stop it so he could take the Tail Feathers and run, but the group surprised him and knocked him into the machine. From there he was thrown into the waste barrel that was near the machine and complained about how they were taking the Clockwerk Tail Feathers, though all Sly did was tell him that there was no honor in printing money and that he didn't understand why he had chosen to do that with his portion of the ancient owl. Once Dimitri was out cold, or at least extremely dazed from the fight, the four of them gathered the Tail Feathers and made their way up to the opening they had created, allowing Murray to pull them up and get them to the van, so they could leave before Interpol arrived.
The following morning, when they were back in their warehouse awaiting the news on what happened, Carmelita arrived with a smile on her face, to which the gang welcomed her with open arms and she started to explain what had happened after she left them to finish up their heist. She had timed the arrival of her, her forces, and Neyla so that they would miss the Cooper Gang as they were making their exit, where they found Dimitri at the heart of his counterfeiting operation and arrested him immediately. Her superiors were happy with the news and she assisted Neyla in filling out all the paperwork necessary to make sure Dimitri went to jail for his actions, though once that was done, and she had another criminal name to add to the list of criminals she had taken out while following the gang over the years, she had gone home to get some sleep before coming here. Once she was done explaining her story, regardless of how short it was, Sly showed her the Clockwerk Tail Feathers and noticed that she was happy to have been of assistance in acquiring them, before he revealed his plans for a well deserved break for the gang, a reward for completing the first of many heists to steal back the various parts of his family's ancient enemy.
As such the gang, all seven of them to be exact, headed out for Monaco, where they would spend a week relaxing and enjoying themselves before they even attempted to figure out where Rajan and his parts were located... but they would find him in time and steal back whatever parts he had taken from the museum.
Once the gang was done with their break in Monaco, and were refreshed enough to return to their search for the stolen Clockwerk parts, they started hunting down any and all information on Rajan, who happened to be a mysterious spice lord that was operating out in India. Rajan, as it turned out, was a self-made man who actually grew up poor on the streets of Calcutta, where he started his life of crime by selling illegal spices in the black market and eventually grew his small outfit into a sizable operation. In the end that helped him earn himself a seat in the prestigious Klaww Gang, which was followed by him crowning himself 'Lord of the Hills', and it appeared that he went to great lengths to convince others of his royalty, though the gang knew he was mostly trying to convince himself of that fact. As it turned out he was actually holding a lavish ball in his newly purchased ancestral palace, though the reason behind that was to show off one of his latest acquisitions, the Clockwerk Wings... the symbol of the Cooper Clan's ancient enemy.
They had the feeling that Rajan assumed that the ancient symbol of such a powerful creature, and an infamous one at that, would bring him prestige as he displayed it to those that came to his lavish ball, but at the same time it was bringing Sly and the rest of the gang as well.
Once they knew where their next target was located, and the exact date of the ball, Carmelita informed Secretary Sen about who they were moving against and, much to their surprise, he actually had invitations ready for her, Neyla, their boss Contessa, and even Sly to enter the ball undercover. While one of the ladies was happy to hear that Sly was coming with them, especially since they were trying to bring Rajan to justice and reacquire the stolen Clockwerk parts, the other two were annoyed that they were working with a thief. Since Sly was personally being invited to the ball as Carmelita's partner, which meant that he would have to stay at the party until his gang was ready for the heist and to make off with the Wings, he was entrusting the rest of the operation to his gang, who would contact him if they needed either his or Carmelita's assistance with something. Fortunately Secretary Sen also sent a tuxedo for Sly to wear while he was at the party, further revealing that he was on their side and wanted them to succeed, which Sly packed into his belongings before he followed Carmelita aboard the plane that she and the others would be taking to India.
The rest of the gang found their own mode of transportation and went to India ahead of Sly, giving them time to scout out the area near Rajan's 'ancestral' palace and found an ruined tower that was slightly obscured at the top, allowing them to stare out at the palace without having to worry about guards finding them... unless they bothered to look at the top of the tower while the large feral elephant patrolled the area in front of the raised gate that was in front of them. They had a good view of the last people to arrive for the part, which included Sly and Carmelita, before they were escorted to the area that guests were allowed to reside in for the duration of the party, but at the same time they were mostly required to be at the party until it was over. Gilda and Derpy, knowing that they needed to scout out the area and see if there was anyone at Rajan's ball they needed to be aware of before they started to plan out their operation, walked out of the hideout and approached the gate... though they avoided the elephant that was walking around the are, and were also surprised when Diz followed after them, to understand the beginning mission of every operation a little better.
As they quickly discovered the way forward was to use the Ninja Spire Jump technique to cross the spiked rocks that were resting in the river, since they didn't want to alarm the guards to their presence by using their wings, and watched as Diz repeated the movements as well. From there the three of them carefully made their way into the palace grounds and investigated the area around them, carefully watching the flashlight wielding rhino guards that were patrolling the area while also avoiding the ibex and baboon guards that were on the various roofs around them. While they made their way to the actual palace, where the ball was being held, Gilda spotted a helicopter that was flying over the guest quarters and knew that it was an obstacle that needed to be taken out in the future, but she put it out of her mind as they reached the side of the palace that Bentley wanted them to investigate. It appeared that, when they stopped moving for a moment, they discovered an opening on what was the upper level of the palace... though as the three of them climbed up to that area, and entered the palace, they looked out at the fully booked ball that was in progress at that very moment.
The first thing Gilda took a picture of was both of the Clockwerk Wings, which appeared to have been welded to the statue that was in the center of the ballroom, before snapping a picture of the motorized winch that was above the room and another one of Rajan himself. From what she could tell Rajan was also a bengal tiger, with the normal coloration that came with his species, though while he wasn't wearing a shirt he was wearing some royal like leggings, sandals, and a turban on his head, but he also carried a wooden staff. After that Bentley quietly whispered that they also needed pictures of any important quests, where Diz took point and used his binocucom to snap a picture of the Contessa, the black widow spider that was normally Carmelita's superior, unless Carmelita was under Secretary Sen's orders, which she was at the moment. After taking the Contessa's picture Diz was able to snap a picture of Jean Bison and Arpeggio, who they had discovered were members of the Klaww Gang before Carmelita and Sly headed to the party, and a picture of Neyla as well, who was wearing a dress that came in two pieces while showing off her midriff and was meant to entice others to come and talk to her during the party.
The last picture Diz took was of a certain pair of people, as he was able to nab a photo of Sly, in his tuxedo, walking alongside Carmelita, who was wearing a nice looking black dress, though while they appeared to be enjoying themselves, and the gang knew they were, they also knew that the duo was keeping their eyes on Rajan and the Wings... but since they couldn't do much at the moment Bentley called the three of them back so he could create a proper plan of attack for this operation, especially since they actually couldn't get to the Wings just yet.
When the trio got back to the hideout, and handed over the pictures that they had taken inside the ballroom, Bentley stared at them for a few moments and occasionally glanced at the palace grounds, as if he was studying them for something that would allow them to move forward with the operation. In the end he determined that their first order of business would be to take out the chopper that was flying over the area, though in order for them to do that, without relying on Derpy's lightning or Gilda's wind, since there weren't supposed to be any storms for the next few days, they had to rely on something more traditional. That turned out to be a turret that was resting on the palace grounds, but since Murray was the only one of them that could flip the switch and turn it on, since the model had a heavy switch that went with it, the first mission would be dropping the drawbridge that was near their hideout. The group immediately knew what he was talking about, as both Gilda and Derpy promised Bentley that they would get the bridge lowered so they could all begin the real work that Bentley had planned.
Fortunately the path to the mission start area was right inside the palace, as all they had to do was use the Ninja Spire Jump, pull themselves up the vine to reach the rampart, and then use a bounce pad to reach the the small tower that the beacon was attached to, where they pulled their binocucoms up and readied themselves.
"Gilda, Derpy, as you know Murray and I can't get inside the palace unless you lower the drawbridge for us." Bentley said, to which their binocucoms zeroed in on the winch that controlled the drawbridge, which was currently locked down by five locks.
"Well, the winch is locked down at the moment." Derpy commented, staring at the locks for a moment, before she remembered what she and Sly had done back in the theater of Dimitri's nightclub, "I take it you already know where we can find the keys?"
"Keyguards have recently taken up position around the palace." Bentley told them, to which they turned their gaze towards one of the rhino guards that was currently patrolling the area that he was assigned to watch over, where his pocket had a bluish glow to it, "We just need the two of you to sneak in, pick all of their pockets, and bring the keys back to the locked-down winch."
Since one of the keyguards was right outside the gate, patrolling the area with the large elephant that was outside their hideout, Derpy and Gilda decided to focus on the other four keyguards that were scattered throughout the palace and the guest area. Derpy immediately headed towards the part of the palace that the ball was being held in, leaving Gilda to head over to the other building over the bridge, though as she did that she found one of the keyguards standing near some railing with his flashlight shining at the entire area in front of him. As she observed her target for a moment she came to the conclusion that she would have to lure this particular keyguard away from his post, meaning that she was going to have to use noise to do so. Fortunately there was a gong nearby that, when she slammed her cane against it, let off a noise that caused the keyguard to walk over to the gong so he could investigate the noise, allowing Derpy to move behind him and claim the key that he was holding.
Her second target was nearby as well, as he was near the trees they had used to get into the upper level of the ballroom earlier, but from what she discovered he was like the first one and there was no obvious way to get at him immediately. That was, however, until she spotted a vine connecting the rampart to where he was standing, to which she smiled and headed down into the street, making sure to avoid the guards that were patrolling the area while also stealing the treasures in their pockets, before she jumped onto the vine. From there she carefully walked over the vine and silently approached the keyguard that she was going after, where she quickly looted his pocket, claimed his key, and departed from the area before he realized what was going on. After that she returned to where the winch was located and jumped down to the area that was in front of the hideout, where she approached the other keyguard she and Gilda had noticed earlier and looted his key as well... before heading back up to the winch as she waited for Gilda to return.
Gilda, on the other hand, found that she was fortunate in where her keyguards were located, as the first one was patrolling the bridge between the palace and the guest quarters, so she followed after him and stayed in the shadows as she picked his pocket. In the end she walked away with his key and headed into the grounds of the guest quarters, to which she carefully walked around the area, picked the pockets of the various guards she passed by, and eventually found the second keyguard on the backside of the building. Getting to him was easy, as she only had to drop down behind him while he was patrolling the balcony he was on and swipe his key while he was distracted by constantly moving, to which she smiled as she took the key and headed back down to the area below her. With both of the keys in her possession Gilda headed back towards the winch with the intent of claiming the key from the guard that was near the hideout, but as she arrived at the winch she found Derpy standing next to it... and three of the locks had keys waiting inside them, revealing that her sister had beaten her to the punch and had taken the fifth key while she was busy.
"Well, that makes things much easier." Gilda said, as she wasn't annoyed that Derpy had finished gathering her keys before she could, as she must have been extremely lucky in terms of where her keyguards were located, though at the same time she slipped her keys into the remaining locks.
The two of them then turned the keys and let the locks come undone, allowing them to pull the lever on the winch and watch as the drawbridge lowered before their eyes, creating an open passage for Bentley and Murray to come into the palace grounds so they could complete some missions as well.
"Thanks you two," Bentley said, his voice revealing that he was extremely pleased with this outcome, even though he knew that they would have completed the mission and opened the drawbridge the moment he told them what they needed to do, "now Murray and I can access the palace grounds."
Gilda and Derpy smiled as they headed back towards the hideout, using the drawbridge this time around, as now they were one step closer to the heist that would allow them to make off with the Clockwerk Wings... and either end in Rajan being arrested or him being forced to flee, with them chasing him to put him in jail anyway.
The moment Gilda and Derpy returned to the hideout, so they could see what else they needed to do in order to help Bentley prepare for the heist he had planned, they discovered that Murray and Diz would be heading out for the turret so they could take out the chopper as soon as possible. The reasoning behind that decision was because Bentley needed it to be removed before they could do any of the other major missions he had planned, as he feared that some of them might draw the attention of the chopper if it was around during those missions, meaning Rajan would know that someone was doing something in the grounds of his new palace. If such a thing happened Carmelita and the others would be forced to leave without arresting anyone and the operation would be a bust, and Bentley was sure that Neyla would use that as an excuse to get rid of them. As such the chopper needed to be taken out immediately, that much he knew for sure, so both Murray and Diz agreed with what he told them and headed out of the hideout the moment the sisters returned, where they and Bentley watched as the duo headed into the palace grounds.
Diz made sure to knock out the guards that were patrolling the grounds while Murray carefully made his way towards the mission beacon, where he also looted them of anything and everything that Bentley might be able to sell upon their return, before they reached the top of the building that the turret was located on.
"Murray, that chopper is a menace to all future aerial operations while we're on this job." Bentley said, telling them what they already knew, mostly because he found that sometimes he needed to remind one of them what their current mission was.
"Yeah, it's all covered in missiles and guns and stuff." Murray stated, though his eyes were locked on the turret that was resting in front of him and Diz, as he knew that this was they key to taking out the chopper, while at the same time noticing that Diz was prepared for anything.
"Now, be a team player and take it out with that rusty, pre-war turret." Bentley replied, to which their binocucoms locked onto the turret in question, even though Murray had been staring at it already, though instead of saying anything else he waited for one of them to speak before the line was disconnected.
"Okay, I had a potato gun once; I bet it works just the same." Murray happily said, as he liked the thought of smashing that chopper, even if he couldn't do it with his fists, to which he put away his binocucom and approached the lever that was right in front of them.
"You had a potato gun?" Diz commented, as that was something that he hadn't known before this point in time, despite the time he had spent with Sly, his sisters, and their friends, who were his new family, before he chuckled as he stood guard over Murray, "For the longest time all I had was a slingshot, that I eventually lost... but that doesn't matter at the moment. I'll watch your back while you get that turret operational."
Murray nodded as he stopped in front of the lever, grabbed onto it, and started pulling on it, though as he did that Diz found something interesting while he stood guard and watched Murray's back, there weren't any guards that wanted to mess with them. He could have sworn that someone would have noticed that someone was messing with the power to the turret and was planning on operating it, but all he did was stand there and found that none of the guards even came up to where they were standing. It was strange, mostly because of what he knew from the previous operations that the gang had been on in the past two years since he joined them and the fact that the guards of those areas always came after them when they did something like this, but he guessed there was a reason behind the guards not wanting to come and mess with the turret. Fortunately Murray was able to flip the switch and restored power to the turret, to which he climbed onto the structure the turret was resting on and took control of the turret itself, where he raised into the air a little and zeroed in on where the chopper was located.
The instant he was in place Murray started firing at the chopper, pausing every now and then to make sure they didn't overheat, while at the same time the chopper, realizing that it was under attack, turned towards the turret and starting firing missiles at them. Murray, noticing the missiles coming, used the turret to take them out before returning his focus to the chopper, while Diz stood there and remained silent as he watched the chopper take damage while Murray and the turret took no damage at all. Even when the chopper started firing more missiles at Murray and the turret, in an attempt to take them all out, Murray proved that he was skilled on a turret and blew all of the missiles up before they could even reach him, before loosing another burst from the turret and caused the chopper to explode. That was instantly followed by Murray proclaiming that he was triumphant while the turret returned to the position it had been in before he activated it a few seconds ago.
When Murray started to head back towards the hideout, since that was the only thing that Bentley needed him to do, Diz said that he'd take a moment to do something else, as Bentley had asked him to slip something to Sly and Carmelita, as there was something he needed to do when it was time for the heist to begin. It was a pair of small communicators, ones that would beep once when it was time for them to assist them in the actual operation, though while Murray headed back to the hideout Diz noticed that Gilda and Derpy, now free to fly around the palace, flew out to gather the various clues and treasures that were scattered throughout the palace. Diz chuckled as he saw them moving around the area, as they enjoyed flying as much as being thieves, before he jumped down to the street below him and made his way towards the guest quarters. The reasoning was because, thanks to seeing Sly and Carmelita head into the ballroom with their tuxedo and dress on, he knew that he needed a tuxedo to get by the doorman that was letting people into Rajan's party, though finding one would be easy if he looked through the guest quarters.
As such he avoided the guards, making sure to rob them of their loot in the process, before heading towards the main door of the guest quarters, where he carefully opened it and slipped inside the building as fast as he could, as he didn't want anyone to see him. When Diz entered the building, and closed the door behind him, Bentley informed him that the specific building he had entered happened to have five rooms he could search, none of which were the ones that Sly, Carmelita, or the other Interpol officers had been given, meaning that it was fine to ransack all of them until he had what he was searching for.
Attention guards, this is Lord Rajan. an intercom said, causing Diz to pause for a moment, as he had to wonder if there was anything special he could learn from hearing the gang's target speak for a few seconds, The party here is in full swing and all visitors are now in the ballroom. Now, while this ball may be on the up-and-up, not all of the guests are, so be careful to look out for prowlers. I don't want any bad press on this event.
Diz, finding that Rajan wanted this to be a successful party, also discovered that the tiger didn't have anything interesting to reveal to him, so he moved up the left hallway and entered the two rooms that were on that side of the building, where he found guards patrolling the entire area. Since there were more guards in all the rooms, at least four to five and knocking one out would draw the attention of the others, Diz activated the spell he had used when Secretary Sen brought him to see the Cooper Gang two years ago, where he faded out of existence. Before he became a thief, and had been spending his years as a prankster, he had spent some time pretending to be a poltergeist and freaked out some families with his various antics, only leaving when they brought someone in to 'exorcise' him. It had been fun, especially since it was hard for people to figure out what was going on, but eventually he was caught by Secretary Sen, which was what prompted him to bring him to the meeting with the gang.
Now that he had been trained to be a thief, however, his invisibility spell came in handy for areas like this, as he could walk in front of the guards and they would have no idea he was there, though the flashlight guards he ended up sneaking around, just to be on the safe side. The downside to the situation was that he found that it was easy for him to slip back into his old ways, as while he was looking for the pieces of a tuxedo he moved things around and watched as the guards that didn't have any flashlights were getting freaked out as they watched something move on it's own. He had no idea if they believed in ghosts, poltergeists, and everything else, but he found it amusing to watch them shake in fear as they watched what he was doing, only to relax when he eventually stopped moving things and walked out of the room when he found a piece of the tuxedo he was after. It was far too tempting to do that in all five rooms, as the guards were so easy to mess with in such a manner, and he spent a few minutes in each room, doing identical things to all the people that were guarding this area, before he gained what he was looking for.
When he had the pieces of a tuxedo, and was done messing with the guards, he returned to the main entrance of the building and let his invisibility fade, to which he headed outside the building and headed towards the ballroom door the moment he was outside... where the doorman allowed him to enter the ball, as Diz had shown up wearing the tuxedo he had taken from the guest quarters.
Sly and Carmelita, despite the fact that they were both undercover at the moment, spent their time making it seem like they were enjoying the party, which they actually were enjoying despite the fact that it was one of their target's parties, while at the same time keeping their eyes on Jean Bison, Arpeggio, and Rajan. From what they could see the three members of the Klaww Gang did visit each other a few times during the party, acting like business partners that would immediately make guests think twice about interrupting them. What they overheard, however, revealed that Rajan not only made off with Clockwerk's Wings, but also the powerful pump that was his Heart, which only Rajan knew the location of by the sound of things. Jean Bison happened to have the Lungs, Stomach, and the Talons of the ancient owl, though the mention of the last ones made Sly remember what happened to Derpy when they fought Clockwerk two years ago, but Carmelita was able to negate any anger rising to the surface with her mere presence. Oddly enough Arpeggio seemed to have possession of Clockwerk's Brain, though that left out the hypnotizing Eyes that Sly had read about in the Thievius Raccoonus, making him wonder if there was a fifth member of the Klaww Gang that hadn't shown up to the party... though if that was the case Rajan didn't appear to be upset over the fact.
While the two of them were gathering any information they could use in the future, once they had Rajan's Clockwerk parts, they stopped at a snack bar and grabbed some fruit drinks, as they needed to be thinking straight the entire time they were here... though as they did that they spotted a familiar hyena, now dressed in a tuxedo, move into a small room and remain there for a few seconds, but the bound wings that they could see through the back of the tuxedo drew their attention and cased them to follow after him.
"Diz, what are you doing here?" Sly asked, though he meant the ball, since none of the other members of his family or gang had been invited to actually attend the ball, and he expected them all to be working to get the Clockwerk Wings before Rajan figured out that cops were at his party.
"Bentley wanted me to give you guys these." Diz replied, to which he pulled out two earpieces, one for both Sly and Carmelita to wear, and let them take the items from him, before he hid his hands again, "He's got a plan to get the prize, but he said that to make sure no one sees whats happening there needs to be a distraction... like the two of you dancing or something like that."
"He wants us to dance, to distract Rajan and the others?" Carmelita inquired, as she had always imagined that her first actual dance with Sly would be somewhere of their own choosing, but at the same time she had to admit that Bentley's plan already sounded good, "When does he want us to start our 'distraction'?"
"Those are designed to go off when he's ready for you to make a move," Diz explained, remembering what Bentley had told him before he left the hideout, before coming to the second part of the statement, as this was his role when the operation went into effect, "and, in case he forgets to activate the sensor to give you the news, I'll be back when the heist begins, to let you two know when to move."
"Bentley, he's always got a backup plan for everything." Sly said, to which he and Carmelita fitted their earpieces into their ears, where they seemed to disappear entirely, before he turned back towards Diz, "You should get out of here before someone asks you to dance... especially since Neyla's been dancing with a few partners and stopping whenever they make the wrong move."
Diz nodded and excused himself, making it seem like the conversation was just some friends meeting in the strangest place, before he headed towards the entrance he used to get inside the building, telling the doorman that he only needed some air and that he'd be back in a few minutes... before heading back to the hideout to give Bentley the good news and see if he had figured out what to do next.
Upon Diz's return to the hideout, and he had changed back into his thief attire, they all sat around the table as Bentley explained that they were going to have to use the electronic winch above the ballroom to get at the Clockwerk Wings, but that meant they needed to gain control over it. Bentley already had the location of the control room, meaning that they didn't have to waste time getting it, though at the same time he also explained that they would need a really good saw to cut through whatever was holding the Wings to the statue they were attached to. Fortunately he had an idea for that as well, as Rajan's prized elephants had some headdresses that contained three gemstones a piece, which he concluded would be perfect for cutting the Wings free. In addition to all that Gilda and Derpy discovered the existence of a surface-to-air defense system that needed to be taken out as well, something that Bentley was going to do with his RC-chopper that he had brought with him, thus allowing them to put the heist into action... which all of them happened to be looking forwards to, especially when Bentley said they were close to retrieving the Wings.
Gilda and Derpy headed out the moment Bentley was ready to go, as hacking into the control room for the winch was going to take all of them since guards were likely going to swarm them once they knew what was going on, so while Murray, Diz, and Bentley headed for one entrance the sisters headed for the drain that would let them enter the back way. Even with the surface-to-air defenses patrolling the area it didn't take them long to reach the back side of the building and enter through the drain that they discovered, which brought them to what appeared to be a pool or a hot spring of some sort. The two of them noticed some rhino guards patrolling the area and, in accordance to what they usually did, went to work knocking them out as they went, though at the same time Bentley informed them, via the earpieces he insisted they wear for this part of the operation, that the code they were looking for, to get to the switch that would open the doors on the upper level, was under one of the tables near them.
What they discovered was that there were four tables for them to crawl under, which Derpy did without hesitation, and that the code happened to be at the far end of the room, on the opposite side of the drain they entered through, but once she found the code she headed towards the laser door in the middle of the room and opened it. After that she and Gilda made their way over the lasers that were on the floor, smacked the snakes that rose from their vases, and reached the switch in question. Before pulling it Derpy turned towards the vault that was beside them and input the code Bentley had gotten from the clue bottles they had recovered, which was 8-5-7, and opened the vault, allowing her to swipe the blueprints for a melee weapon that forced enemies into berserker state, where they'd become confused and attack their former allies instead of their real enemies. Once they had the vault's treasure the two of them flipped the switch and the door above them opened, to which they headed up there and regrouped with Bentley, Murray, and Diz.
"Thanks for breaking us in guys," Murray said, though he definitely looked ready for a fight, which made sense considering what they were able to attempt with Bentley's assistance, but whether Murray remembered that or not was the real question, "'The Murray' approves."
"Let's get down to brass tacks." Bentley stated, drawing attention to himself, though this time around he was serious and showed no sign of his earlier nervousness, back when they were in Paris or hitting the Cairo Museum, "I need to hack both the vault room computers to get control of the electronic winch above the ballroom."
"And we're here to guard you while you work." Diz replied, as he remembered the briefing that Bentley had given them before they left the hideout, though he said it so Murray would remember that they were going to be fighting some of Rajan's guards soon enough.
"Precisely." Bentley said, as he was happy that someone, besides Sly and his sisters, seemed to understand what he was trying to say, even when he did so slowly for Murray's sake, "The second I enter their servers they'll be onto us. You guys need to work together to keep the thugs off my back."
"Leave the guards to us Bentley." Gilda stated, though at the same time she, Derpy, and Diz held their canes at the ready as they prepared themselves for what was ahead of them, to which Murray joined them by pounding his fists together as he stood behind them, while at the same time Bentley moved towards the first computer.
"Okay, I'm in." Bentley said, to which he put his crossbow down and started hacking into the terminal that was right in front of him, allowing his full concentration to be on it and nothing else, as he was sure that the others could protect him from the guards, "Hacking the level six barrier."
Sure enough the instant Bentley started talking the door he and the others had walked through opened and the guards started to move into the area, where Derpy, Gilda, Diz, and Murray engaged them immediately, knocking them out so they wouldn't be able to harm their friend. It was pure madness as the four of them used their canes, or in the case of Murray his fists, and beat up the guards that were coming at them, where they fell down on top of their allies and created some nice piles that they'd be waking up in later on. While all of this was happening Bentley moved to the second computer as he moved to the level five access, though the group focused on the guards and simply fought them as they entered the chamber that they were standing in. Murray was having the most fun out of all of them, as he enjoyed bashing his enemies together and even threw some of them at groups of approaching guards, leaving Gilda, Derpy, and Diz to deal with the stragglers. Bentley, not having to deal with the guards, continued to call out which levels he was breaching as he moved between the two computers, going from the level six barrier and descending towards the lowest barrier that was in his way... until eventually he succeeded in his mission and claimed total control of the winch.
Fortunately once he had control of the winch the guards stopped coming, meaning that the fight was officially over, to which he thanked everyone for assisting him and they immediately headed out, as they had more missions to take care of before the heist and knew that both Sly and Carmelita were waiting for the order to begin the distraction... and then they would take the Clockwerk Wings from Rajan and celebrate their victory over the second member of the Klaww Gang.
As Gilda, Derpy, Murray, and Diz headed back to the hideout, to rest for a few moments before the next stage of their operation, Bentley followed after them for a few minutes and left a minute later, carrying the RC-chopper that he had carefully stored away for this operation. With his device in hand Bentley carefully made his way into the palace grounds and used his sleep darts on the guards that were in his way, thus allowing him to reach the bridge that connected the guest quarters to the palace itself. From there he used some of the containers to jump his way up to the roof of the building that he had set his mission beacon to, before using a jump pad to reach the top of the tower that was next to him, which allowed him to get away from the guards that were patrolling the area. He noted that the guards that were now below him didn't have any golden pockets, as when he asked Diz where he kept getting all the loot he brought to him, to sell on Thief-Net, he said he got them from the pockets of the guards in the area, from the golden pockets anyway.
Bentley sighed for a moment as he tinkered with the RC-chopper and made sure that it was fully operational, as now wasn't the time for something to go wrong, because that surface-to-air defense needed to be taken care of quickly, just like he had asked Murray to take out the chopper quickly... though before long he opened the communication channel and established connection to the hideout, indicating that he was getting ready.
"Bentley, what's your status?" Gilda asked, as she had seen the communication light come on and had come over to make sure someone talked with Bentley before he started his mission, just like he did with everyone else that were off to complete the missions he assigned them.
"I'm in position with the RC-chopper," Bentley replied, to which he smiled for a moment as he flipped a switch and the propeller blades of the device started spinning, indicating that it was ready for takeoff, where he stood back and let the RC-chopper fly into the air as he began his search for his target, "all systems are go to neutralize their surface to air defenses. We're going to need free reign of the sky during the heist."
"Well, good luck and be careful." Gilda said, as she knew that Bentley needed some encouragement from time to time when he was in the field, though at the same time she said nothing about the fact that parts for an RC-chopper weren't cheap, because she knew that Bentley would take care of his toy.
"Hostile has been sighted." Bentley stated, seeing his target through the camera that was attached to the RC-chopper, where he primed the weapon system and chased after the car that was Rajan's surface-to-air defense system, which was already preparing it's first missile, "I'll let you know when I've taken out the target."
The moment the RC-chopper was near the surface-to-air defense vehicle Bentley carefully timed when he needed to drop a small bomb on his target and when he needed to rapidly turn to avoid the missiles that were coming after his device, which in turn caused them to detonate without harming the device. As he suspected the vehicle drove all over the entire palace grounds, the area around the hideout, and even one around the guest quarters, though the driver seemed to think twice about that when Bentley rained a good number of bombs down upon his target. From there it was a simply matter to carefully avoid the missiles, destroying them in the same manner as the first one, while carefully dropping a number of bombs on his target, which eventually caused the vehicle to catch on fire as it continued to move through the palace grounds... until eventually the driver got out of it and rolled off to the side as the vehicle exploded, though the look on the driver's face revealed that this was the only vehicle of it's kind that Rajan had ordered.
Bentley smiled as he switched the controls and the RC-chopper came back to the tower that he was standing on, where he waited for it to land before he stored the device in the container that it had been stored in, before he carefully descended the tower and started to head back towards the hideout... where Gilda, Derpy, Murray, and Dix were waiting for him with smiled on their faces.
"Nice flying Bentley." Derpy said, as she and the others had seen the RC-chopper flying through the air and that it hadn't taken a single hit while it was destroying Bentley's target, which meant that he had succeeded in his mission, as the smile on his face revealed his mood, "That jeep's out of commission and now we have clear skies for the heist!"
"Thank you." Bentley replied, to which he set the container down and returned to his seat, as there was more they needed to do before the operation could get underway, where he turned towards the rest of the gang, "With that jeep taken out the three of you will be able to fly without having to worry about being shot down... and it might make the final missions easier for all of us."
Diz, being the first one to react, nodded his head and headed out of the hideout, where he flapped his medium sized wings and took off as he headed over towards the area that the beacon was resting in, though as he did that he heard the sound of Gilda and Derpy taking to the skies as well. From what he could tell they were planning on helping him get the gems they needed for Bentley's saw, which was a good idea since they had no idea how much longer Rajan's ball was going to go on. With the ability to fly around the palace grounds now restored to them, as the guards wouldn't be able to do anything about them even if one of them were spotted, it didn't take them long to find the area that the mission beacon was bringing them to, which appeared to be a room that was guarded by a large heavy door. As Diz landed in front of the door, so he could get the mission briefing, both Gilda and Derpy landed on the roofs of the buildings around him, knocking out the guards while they waited for him to get started.
"Diz, we need to find a way to get Rajan's prize elephants out of their pen." Bentley said, reminding Diz of the fact that the gems he needed were actually attached to the headdresses of the very beasts that were behind this door, to which he rubbed the back of his head as he studied the door for a few more seconds.
"Well, I can already tell that I'm not going in through the front door, as that's not something any of us can open without some serious assistance." Diz replied, though as he started walking around the exterior of the building he spotted something beneath the steps, something that made him grin, "However, this hole beneath the steps can provide me with a way inside the building so I can get the elephants outside."
Bentley said nothing as Diz put his binocucom away, slipped his cane into the holder on his back, and crawled into the hole that he had spotted, where he carefully made his way into the area beneath the building and spotted some rats making themselves at home... though as he approached the rat, however, they scurried off and the elephants, apparently seeing them somehow, made some noise as they barreled through the door and left the building.
"Diz, I don't know what you just did, but whatever it was sure freaked out Rajan's prize elephants." Gilda spoke up, though at the same time Diz carefully turned around and started to make his way towards the hole he used to get into the area he was in, "They're now outside rampaging around the palace."
Diz removed himself from the area below the building that he had been in, dusted himself off for a few seconds, and then pulled out his cane, though as he did that he spotted the first of the two elephants standing nearby, though there was a look in his face that revealed that he had done what he set out to do.
"Wow, he sure looks spooked." Diz commented, looking into the crazed eyes of the elephant for a few seconds, as it looked terrified of the rats that had freaked it and it's companion out, forcing them to run through the door and start their rampage through the streets.
"A job well done, Diz." Bentley stated, as while he wasn't expecting rats to be the key to drawing the prized elephants out of their building, because he had several other ideas on how to draw them out, this made things much simpler for all of them, "Now comes what would generally be the hard part. I need you, Gilda, and Derpy to snatch the headdress jewels worn by both elephants. The jewels are firmly embedded, so keep whacking at them with your cane to knock one loose."
"Or we can fly up to them and simply steal the headdress as a whole," Derpy spoke up, as she didn't see a reason why they needed to use their canes to smash apart solid gold, because they could definitely sell them on Thief-Net when the operation was over and make off with a decent profit.
Bentley, clearly at a loss for words since he wasn't expecting one of the girls to come up with such an idea, said nothing as the connection between them and the hideout was disconnected, to which Diz smiled as he took to the skies and headed to the nearby elephant. When he arrived he already found Derpy hard at work removing the bindings that were keeping the headdress attached to the elephant's head, though he didn't bother to question how she was able to work on it without the elephant trying to knock them off. As such he headed to the other side of the headdress and started to undo the bindings on his side as well, to which the two of them carefully moved away from the elephant when it moved through areas that were too small for them to remain near it's head. Fortunately it didn't take them too long to undo the bindings and claim the headdress, along with the gems that were on top of it, before they headed over to where Gilda was working on her elephant.
Diz, holding the first headdress, watched as Gilda and Derpy fiddled with the bindings that kept the headdress on the elephant's head for a few moments, before eventually they knocked it loose and they carried it over to the hideout... where Diz did the same thing so Bentley had all six gems that were on them, but he then watched the rampaging elephants for a few minutes before the guards finally got them under control and escorted them back to their pen.
Bentley took some time to create the saw they needed for the heist, allowing the others to take a break while he was doing that, before he set the saw on the table and smiled, as it had been easier to create the item they needed than his original thoughts had led him to believe. Once the saw was ready he started up the projector and explained how the operation was going to begin, by him demolishing the palace's main bridge, which would cut off reinforcements from the guesthouse and hopefully distract the ballroom guards that were standing watch over the Clockwerk Wings. It was at that point that they would contact Sly, so he and Carmelita could understand that the heist was in motion and that it was time for them to dance, and hopefully the crowd would be transfixed by their tango. While that happened Murray, who would return to the control room for the winch, would lower himself into the ballroom by using the electronic winch and then start cutting the Wings free, before using the winch to make his exit. Once the Wings were being carried out of the palace by Murray, as he was the only one strong enough to carry them, Bentley stated that he would cover his exit with the RC-chopper... and once Murray crossed the drawbridge, thus securing the Wings, the gang would get back together, with Sly with them, and they'd leave Rajan to his fate.
Gilda, Derpy, and Diz were a little annoyed that there wasn't anything they could really help out with, but Bentley explained that someone needed to help him control the winch, just in case he lost control, and Diz jumped at the chance to help out. At the same time Bentley told the sisters that he would appreciate their assistance in destroying the bridge, as that would make things go much faster, to which Gilda and Derpy nodded their heads in agreement, as it was better than doing absolutely nothing during the heist. Once everyone knew what they were doing, and they were all ready to go, Gilda and Derpy carried Bentley over to the bridge that he wanted to destroy while Murray and Diz headed towards the building that the controls of the electronic winch was in. It didn't take them long to reach the bridge in question, while at the same time seeing that the guards were fully alert for anything and everything, to which they walked down the path that would allow them to reach the support structure of the bridge.
"Okay Bentley, Murray and I are moving into position." Diz spoke up, allowing the trio to hear him with their earpieces the moment he spoke up, while at the same time hearing Murray punch someone in the background, "How are you, Gilda, and Derpy going to demolish the bridge?"
"It doesn't take an engineer to figure out how to blow up a bridge." Bentley stated, though at the same time he pulled out one of his bombs and looked down at the bridge once more, as he knew what their targets were and didn't mind explaining it a little more, "We'll start by placing charges on all of the lower cleats. Once the structure destabilizes, those retainer rings on the upper cleats should pop right off, that will enable us to bomb all of the upper cleats... which will bring it all crashing down."
"Don't worry Diz, we'll be careful," Gilda said, to which she grabbed a few bombs from Bentley, a motion that Derpy copied, before the three of them jumped down into the lowest area of the bridge and started attaching bombs to the cleats that Bentley wanted to destroy.
It wasn't hard to destroy the lowest level of the bridge, as the nine cleats only required one bomb a piece before they were torn apart, but even as the second cleat was blown apart the trio noticed bits of the bridge were starting to shake themselves loose and rain on them. Not even a minute later the three of them headed up to the upper level of the bridge and watched as the lowest level shattered, the pieces raining down into the area below the bridge, before the three of them turned their attention to the level they were on. Interestingly enough the level they were now on required that they place two bombs on each cleat before one of them was destroyed, though between the three of them they were able to take out the eight cleats that were their targets. Once the final cleat was broken, and they were sure there wasn't anything else stopping the bridge from falling, the group moved out of the way and watched as the bridge shattered before their eyes, the fragments dropping into the abyss... while also preventing any reinforcements from coming to their master's aid, exactly like Bentley had planned.
"Okay Diz, the bridge is down." Bentley said, though at the same time he let Gilda pick him up, because at this point he had no other way of getting back to the hideout on his own, which was another reason why he had incorporated this into his plans, "We're heading back to the hideout so we can warm up the van, and so I can get ready to use the RC-chopper to protect Murray... now it's all up to Sly and Carmelita."
Even as Bentley said that Gilda and Derpy noticed that he had tapped the button on the side of his binocucom that was attached to the alarm that would tell Sly and Carmelita that it was time for them to dance and cause a distraction so Murray could get at the Wings.
Sly and Carmelita stood off to the side and observed the rest of the guests that had taken to the dance floor and found that Rajan either didn't care or he wasn't interested, like he only cared for a specific dance to be held at his party and he wasn't getting it. The only time his eyes had lit up was when Neyla's last partner tried the tango with her, but ended up failing within the first few steps and she stopped it, as it wasn't enjoyable for her, before heading to the refreshment table to calm her nerves. Sly was surprised that Neyla was annoyed because of her dance partners, but he simply stood near Carmelita as they waited for Bentley and the others to inform them that it was time for the dance to happen, so they could take the Wings from under Rajan's nose. In fact the two of them slightly paused what they were doing when they spotted some of Rajan's guards walking over to the 'Lord' of the palace, who glared at them for a moment and said nothing as they approached him.
The duo stood there as the guards spoke to Rajan, though as they did so Sly glanced up at the ceiling ever so slightly and spotted a familiar pink hippo preparing himself for the next stage of the heist, with a familiar hyena standing near him, to which he turned back towards Carmelita and pretended that he didn't see them yet.
"What!? The bridge is destroyed?" Rajan exclaimed, his anger and annoyance evident to anyone that was listening, which was mostly Sly and Carmelita at this point, to which he stared at his guards and tapped his staff on the floor, "Take all the manpower you need and look into it."
Sure enough the guards started to head out of the ballroom, so they could see what had happened to the bridge near the guest quarters, though at the same time both Sly and Carmelita heard the signal in their ears, thanks to the earpieces Diz had delivered to them earlier, and a smile appeared on their faces.
"It looks like Murray is in position." Sly commented, though he made sure to keep his voice low so that only Carmelita could hear him, while at the same time he came to the conclusion that whatever plan Bentley had come up with was doing exactly what he intended to do.
"And it looks like Bentley's little distraction did what he wanted." Carmelita said, as she was used to how the Cooper Gang operated and knew that this had Bentley written all over it, to which she turned towards Sly for a moment, "Sly Cooper, I believe its time that the two of us had that dance.
Sly's smile widened as Carmelita said that, as he had been waiting for this the moment Diz had given them the idea to use a dance to distract Rajan and his guests, to which he took Carmelita's hand and the two of them stepped out onto the floor in front of everyone, causing Rajan, the Contessa, Neyla, and the other Klaww Gang members to look at them. Once they were sure that they had the attention of everyone in the ballroom, and no one was looking at the ceiling, the two of them took up the proper stances for the tango and started dancing to the tune that the musicians were playing. As they danced back and forth on the floor, hearing some of the guests clap for them while Neyla crushed the glass she was holding onto in sheer anger at being showed up in a simple dance, both of them noticed two things happen; Murray had begun his descent towards the Clockwerk Wings and Rajan was deeply interested in them, indicating that he already liked what they were doing.
For the most part the two of them made it seem like they were simply enjoying their dance and weren't focusing on anything else at the moment, though as they danced Rajan's anger faded as he leaned forward to observe them and Murray disappeared behind the statue for a moment. Not a few seconds later the Wings moved and Murray started to head back towards the ceiling, holding tight onto the Wings, to which Sly and Carmelita continued their dance and made sure that everyone was focused on them and nothing else. Fortunately it didn't take Murray long to reach the ceiling and disappear with the Wings, indicating that he and Diz were making sure they reached the van with their prize, but both Sly and Carmelita decided to take a few moments and finish their dance, mostly because this was the first time they had done something like this and the actual dance they were doing was nearly finished.
"Sly, you dance quite well." Carmelita said, though at the same time the two of them moved into the final steps of the dance and stood in front of each other, so they could say goodbye for the moment, as she and the other cops had something to do once Rajan started freaking out.
"As do you, Carmelita." Sly replied, to which he raised Carmelita's hand and kissed it, making it look like he was the same gentleman that he had been attempting to be the entire time they had been here, before the two of them parted ways for the moment, after they got off the floor anyway.
Sure enough Rajan, no longer distracted by the dance the two of them had put on, noticed that the Clockwerk Wings were no longer attached to the statue and reacted in a vocal manner, before naming both Neyla and Carmelita as cops, to which the two of them started making arrests... while at the same time Sly grinned as he walked up the stairs and watched as Rajan fled his own party, as both his guards and the guards of the other Klaww Gang members were getting arrested. It was a shame that Rajan was going to get away, just like Jean Bison and Arpeggio were getting away, but at the same thing it was a good thing, especially since he was the only one that knew where the Clockwerk Heart was located. He followed the footsteps that the lord of the palace had left behind for a few seconds and noticed that they went into the jungle that was near the structure, giving him an idea where to find the tiger in the near future. Once he had that in mind he slipped into the crowd and disappeared as the guests ran from the ballroom, though he eventually slipped away from those people and walked into an area where Gilda and Derpy were waiting for him... to which the two of them grabbed onto him and spirited him away to the area the van was resting in, where they left the palace behind with the Wings resting in the back of the van.
With the heist over, and Carmelita freed from the majority of her duties, since she was supposed to book people like Dimitri and Rajan, the entire gang took a break and headed for Bollywood, where they planned on celebrating their success before heading after their target again. It took some doing, from both Sly and Carmelita, but they managed to sneak Murray onto the set of a full-blown Indian musical, giving him a moment to unwind as the rest of the group relaxed as well. They all knew that Rajan was still out there, and even Secretary Sen sent Bentley a message asking if they would be tracking the tiger again, though they all knew that things were going to get harder when they caught up with Rajan in the near future.
Once the gang was done relaxing in Bollywood, and were ready to track down Rajan, the real detective work began for them as they attempted to figure out where in the jungle their target had fled to and where he might have hidden the second Clockwerk part he had taken, the ever beating pump that was the ancient owl's Heart. Such a thing in the hands of Rajan, who seemed to only be interested in his reputation, which was now shattered due to the events at the palace, and the spice that he grew all the time, was a bad thing for the rest of the world. As Bentley said the pump, if his calculations were correct, and even going so far to remind them that he always did his math right, would increase the spice production tenfold, which revealed how he was getting all the spice for the various shipments that Jean Bison made. None of them were happy with that particular thought, especially when they had no idea why the spice was so important to the Klaww Gang, which only made them double their efforts to figure out where Rajan had wandered off to.
It was Carmelita, of all people, that found the information that Rajan had spoken of some ruins deep in the jungle, oddly enough near the palace that he had bought to serve as his 'ancestral' home, which seemed to be the perfect place for the tiger to hide out in until the heat was off him.
With that information in hand, and they made sure that Secretary Sen was aware of the fact that they were heading after Rajan, the gang gathered their gear, purchased a few things from the various stores around where they were handing out, and headed towards the jungle. Carmelita, of course, had received instant permission from the Secretary to assist the Cooper Gang in the same manner she had done back in Paris, which was why she had brought along her Cooper attire as well, because she had the feeling she was going to play the thief more this time around. Sly still found it strange that she was so willing to live this dual life, where sometimes she was a cop and other times she was a thief that was pretty good, despite the fact that she had no real training in their field. Her mimicry of the Cooper techniques he had shown off, when she was nearby, was astonishing, but that only made him proud, because since she appeared to be a quick study he was sure that, if she chose to fully adapt to being a Cooper thief and left being an Interpol cop behind, Carmelita would learn the other techniques she didn't know in a short period of time.
It took them some time to reach Rajan's palace, taking a side road so they didn't get spotted by the officials that were still there, before they started to drive into the jungle that was in front of them, though after an hour or two Murray stated that they wouldn't be able to go forward in the van, since the jungle was too thick to drive through. As such the gang got out of the van and gathered all the gear that they needed for the next operation, though Carmelita was the last one to emerge from the vehicle, as she had chosen to change into her thief attire and had packed her cop attire into her pack, along with her pistol, so she'd have her other clothing on hand in case she needed to change. They had to use the machetes they had purchased in the city to cut their way through some of the thicker parts of their path, which was the sole reason Bentley had gotten them, and they made sure to ration their water as well, as there were few opportunities for them to drink some water... but eventually the gang reached the ruins that Rajan had built the heart of his operations in, while also locating a proper base camp for them to use.
The area they picked for their hideout happened to be a large stone, which had been crafted into the shape of a skull for some sort of creature, that also happened to have a wooden door with hinges and some drapes over the holes in the structure, indicating that someone must have used this place before Rajan moved into the area, but for now it proved to be the best place for their hideout. Once everyone had put their things in an area where they wouldn't be affected by any rain, in case a storm came through while they were here, Bentley laid out the basics of his plan. Sly and Carmelita, since they had done so well in gathering the information they needed on Dimitri's operation, were tasked with making their way to an area where they could infiltrate Rajan's operation and get some pictures of what was in there. At the same time he was asking Gilda, Derpy, and Diz to stretch their wings and find the clue bottles that were scattered throughout the area, as he was sure that Rajan had another vault somewhere in the ruins and potentially had another item they could add to their growing arsenal... and, as an added bonus, they could take the treasures that were scattered throughout the ruins and whatever the guards were carrying, to add some cash to their account.
As such Sly and Carmelita walked out of the hideout and descended towards the ruins that were below them, before jumping down to the ground level, though as they did that they spotted an elephant that was apparently moving in a complete circle over and over again, powering what appeared to be a satellite array of some kind. The duo shared a glance before Carmelita snagged a photo of it, since she was sure that Bentley was going to want them to do something with it in the near future, before they headed over to the truck that resting near a path. Neither one of them were going to question how Rajan had managed to get some vehicles to this area, especially since he had spent some time setting this entire place up for his operations, before they approached the mission beacon and raised their binocucoms.
"Sly, Carmelita, I need the two of you to sneak into the temple and take some recon photos so I can assess the situation." Bentley informed them, though the nervousness of him ordering Carmelita around, since he had found it odd that he could order a cop around, was gone now and a new confidence had taken it's place, "Just be careful, if you either of you get hurt the nearest hospital is one hundred and six miles from here. According to my map of the area, there should be a hidden passage into the temple behind that waterfall."
"That's some great detective work Bentley," Carmelita replied, as she was impressed by the fact that Bentley was able to figure out where a hidden passage was within a few days or hours of looking at a map of a certain area that he and the gang would be heading to, "and besides, right now I kind of prefer a side entrance to the front door."
Sly chuckled as he heard that, as he had been right in his thinking that Carmelita would fit in as a thief if she decided to change professions, but instead of saying anything the two of them lowered their binocucoms and headed toward the path that was right in front of them. There just so happened to be one guard patrolling the area in front of the hidden passage that Bentley had shown them, which was actually a terrible thing to do if you were trying to keep something a secret, but neither of them were complaining as they approached the baboon guard. Carmelita was the first to reach him and knocked the guard out, allowing Sly to jump the small gap in front of them first and pull on the lever that was attached to the 'hidden' passage, to which the grate opened. A few seconds later Carmelita joined him and the two of them crawled into the pipe that would allow them to see what Rajan was hiding, where they eventually walked out of the pipe and entered the spice growing facility... where Sly spotted an access tube that might allowed them to reach the top of the room, which Bentley claimed was where all the expensive stuff was located.
Once they knew their next destination the two of them headed to their left and carefully walked across the wooden planks that were connecting their walkway to the one in front of them, where they discovered that they had to knock out four baboon guards before they could progress forward. Fortunately Carmelita, having mimicked how a Cooper thief knocked out the various guards that were in their way, which Sly guessed came from a combination of studying him and her practicing on dummies, knew exactly what to do and they were able to knock the guards out quickly. From there they walked around a curved wooden walkway and spotted a rhino guard patrolling the area in front of them, who received the same treatment as his friends did, before Sly jumped onto one of the barrels that Rajan was using to water the plants and rode it to the level above them. Carmelita smiled as she saw that, as she followed his movements and caught up with him a few seconds later, before the two of them started to walk down the wooden walkway that was in front of them... until they came to a stop in front of a vine, which was when Sly determined that he might have reached an obstacle that Carmelita might not know how to get around.
"Carmelita, this vine is going to be slippery, which is great for us," Sly said, to which he noticed that Carmelita was looking at him, as she was interested in what he was talking about, especially since he hadn't actually taught her the moves that she already knew, "I'm referring to a pair of techniques developed by Tennessee Kid Cooper, one of my ancestors, back in the Old West; the Rail Walk and the Rail Slide. Since we're pressed for time I'll just show you how to pull off the move and see where you need help... and then, when we have more time after taking out the Klaww Gang, I'll take some time off from thieving to properly teach you our techniques. If you want to learn them anyway."
Carmelita raised an eyebrow as Sly jumped into the air, with a small jump that wasn't like some of the larger jumps she had seen earlier, and landed on the vine that was in front of them, to which she stared at his posture as he started to ride on the vine and headed towards the broken pillar it stopped at. She had to admit that she didn't recall having seen this particular technique in the past, since the days of Sly and the others taking on the Fiendish Five two years ago, but she knew that she could figure this out for herself. What she did was focus on how Sly had been standing when he landed on the vine and jumped onto it herself, where she positioned her legs like Sly did and quickly found herself riding down the vine as she headed towards Sly's position. Sly, of course, was surprised by her being able to mimic the Cooper techniques like this, even if Carmelita needed a few pointers to perfect the Rail Walk and Rail Slide techniques, but at the same time he smiled as she came to a stop in front of him... to which the two of them took turns on the much shorter vine that was behind Sly, which brought them to the access tube that had a ladder at the end of it.
When they reached the top of the ladder, however, they found the part of the operations that Bentley wanted them to take some pictures of, complete with Rajan actually patrolling the area at the moment, to which they decided to stay inside their hidden area and use their binocucoms to see what else they could take some pictures of. The first thing they took a picture of was the Clockwerk Heart that was hanging above the spice, in the middle of the room, though both of them noticed that the Heart had been separated into two halves. After that Sly snapped a picture of Rajan, where both he and Carmelita noted that the tiger was now carrying the second half of the Heart on the top of his staff, why they had no idea, and he looked pissed off, which was understandable since the gang ruined his party earlier. Once those two pictures had been taken the duo took a picture of the crane controls that one half of the Heart was connected to, which would be the key to lowering the part down to the floor, before snapping a picture of the entrance that Rajan had clearly used to reach this area... where Bentley commented that he had no idea where on the exterior it was supposed to be.
With those pictures taken, and Bentley informed them that he'd have to think about this, the two of them retreated back down the ladder and made their way back towards the hidden passage that allowed them to get into this area, before heading back to the hideout.
When Sly and Carmelita returned to the hideout they discovered that Gilda, Derpy, and Diz had acquired all the clue bottles that were in this area and had taken Rajan's treasures, meaning that any of them could open the vault whenever they found where Rajan had hidden it. Bentley, of course, spent a few minutes going over the pictures of the operation that they had taken, the map of the overall area, and a few other notes that he had made from the information that the trio had brought to him while they were exploring the ruins. In the end Bentley came up with the same plan as when they were tackling Dimitri, he needed a bit more information before they did anything else, to which he revealed a slide of a very special bug that someone would use to bug Rajan's office, which he knew the location of, while he went out into the field and took the spice operation blueprints from the tiger when he made his rounds around the ruins. However, before they did any of that, there was another thing that Bentley said they needed to take care of first, destroying the elephant-driven satellite array that was right outside their hideout.
Gilda and Derpy, deciding to take to the field for one of the missions, headed out immediately and descended into the area where the satellite array was located, though they landed on a nearby building and stared at their target, while also knocking out the nearby guard before he could bother them.
"Rajan is able to monitor all of our communications out here with that elephant-driven satellite array." Bentley stated, to which the sisters stared at the array as he talked, though at the same time they were already thinking of a plan to take care of it on their own.
"You got to admit, Rajan's smarter than what we thought he was," Derpy commented, though at the same time she flexed her fingers and felt the lightning flicker between them, as she was eager to show Rajan who he was dealing with, especially since a storm was coming, "I take it you already have a plan for shutting it down?"
"Of course I have a plan," Bentley replied, to which their binocucoms changed direction and locked onto a large tree that was nearby, one that had some spice plants growing at the top of it, "Now, the local spice plants are illegal for a very good reason. Eat too many of them and you'll go into a fit of uncontrolled rage."
"We should keep that stuff away from Murray, but I see that you mean." Gilda said, as she had pieced Bentley's plan together rather easily, as she could figure out exactly what would happen if they followed his plan, "We gather some of the spice plants and put them inside the elephant's feed bag, so when he takes a break, and gets something to eat, he'll go crazy and finish the job for us."
"That's an accurate interpretation of my plan." Bentley stated, though instead of closing the binocucom he knew that one of them was going to have a question for him, especially since they were the ones that channeled elemental energies all the time.
"Why don't we just blast it to pieces with some lightning?" Derpy asked, to which she noticed that Gilda was looking at her and she was sure that everyone in the hideout was likely doing the same thing, though at the moment she focused on what she was talking about, "Bentley, I don't know if you noticed the change in the weather since Sly and Carmelita came back, but it's started to rain and there's the possibility it might evolve into a storm... why don't we use that to our advantage and just send all the lightning into the satellite array? We can blow the thing to pieces and free the elephant at the same time, and in a much faster manner."
"If you think you can do something like that, then be my guest," Bentley said, his tone indicating that while he believed in the powers that she, Gilda, and Diz possessed, as he had seen them in action beforehand, he also knew that their training with Mz. Ruby wasn't complete and thought that she might be overstating herself, "regardless of the outcome, this should be interesting to observe."
Gilda chuckled as she moved to a high place and watched Derpy as she started to channel her power into the storm that was above their heads, where she noticed that lightning was already starting to jump from one cloud to another one, indicating that her sister had been right about the storm. While this happened she noticed that the others had left the hideout and were standing in front of the door, where they watched Derpy manipulate the clouds above the ruins and drew the power of the storm out from where it was resting. The other good part about this was that she was drawing all of the power that she could muster at the moment, indicating that she was trying to prevent a storm from happening when Bentley decided to go after the Heart, before she rose into the air and let the lightning course around her body for a few seconds as she locked onto her target. What really surprised the gang was that none of the guards in the nearby area were concerned by the fact that lightning was gathering in the sky above their base of operations, as if they didn't even know it was happening, but the gang remained silent as Derpy worked her magic.
A few seconds later Derpy snapped her eye open, raised her hand towards the sky, and the clouds flashed for a second, indicating that her attack was ready, before she swung down her hand and made sure it was level with the satellite array, where a large bolt of lightning burst out of the sky and barreled into her target. That was followed by the array being blown to pieces and scattering fragments of wood and metal everywhere, while at the same time surprising the elephant and caused it to pull itself from the completely ruined structure that it was attached to, allowing it to rampage as it fled from the ruins. Gilda and the others smiled, because even if the guards and Rajan calmed the elephant down, and bothered to attach him back to the array's post, they wouldn't be able to restore the satellite array anytime soon, not when the entire thing had been blown to pieces. Gilda then flew down to where Derpy was standing and helped her back up to where the hideout was located, as using that much power for such a simple thing had to be tiring, but it was well worth the effort... especially since this made it impossible for Rajan to intercept any of their future communications and figure out what they were doing.
She was sure that Bentley liked that news, if the look on his face was any indication, and she knew that it was only a matter of time until the gang found a way to smash the spice production facility that Rajan had set up, defeat the tiger in battle, and then claim the Clockwerk Heart... and then they could focus their efforts on finding and taking out the next member of the Klaww Gang.
The moment Derpy was sitting in the hideout once more, and Gilda stayed behind with her so she could use Bentley's computer to provide information to the others, Sly and Carmelita headed out for the slightly unstable looking structure that Bentley had pointed out to them all when he was making his earlier presentation. At the same time Bentley, Murray, and Diz headed in the opposite direction, so they could hunt down Rajan while he was making his rounds, as he was sure to be carrying the blueprints of his entire operation with him. Gilda didn't mind sitting out for a while, as she had some fun back when they were going after the Clockwerk Wings, and this gave her a chance to relax a little before the others returned with news of their success. She was sure that the two groups would be able to pull off the missions that Bentley had set for them, so they could better understand what they were up against this time around, before they started to dismantle the entire operation, knock out Rajan, and take off with the Heart before the authorities arrived.
As such Sly and Carmelita noticed that there were actually two paths they could take to reach their destination, one involved climbing up the area near the now destroyed satellite array and the other was climbing up to the top of a tall tree and using a vine to cross to the top of the structure. Since some of the guards were now investigating the lightning strike that Derpy used a few minutes ago, meaning Rajan had heard it and noticed the array was offline, they immediately decided not to take the path beneath where the beacon was located. Instead Sly grabbed onto a vine and climbed up to the top of the rock wall that was in front of him, moving so Carmelita had more than enough room to join him, before they took turns climbing up to the top of the tall tree. From there they both jumped onto the vine that was in front of them and carefully made their way over to the top of the structure, where Carmelita knocked out the guard that was up there before they reached the point that Bentley wanted them to stand at... and stare at the small pool that happened to have the same bug from Bentley's slide resting inside it.
The two of them stared at each other for a few seconds, as they were surprised to find that a bug was even up here, to which they sighed and pulled out their binocucoms, because Bentley likely had some additional information to give them before he let them begin the mission.
"Sly, Carmelita, the insect in that pool is a rare Indian water bug." Bentley informed them, though based on the sounds around him Sly could tell that he was somewhere else in the ruins, which made sense considering that his group was going after Rajan at that moment, "If the two of you can carry it into Rajan's office its wings will transmit local sound waves at a frequency I can monitor."
"Let me get this straight." Carmelita said, as she had seen and heard some crazy things during her time hunting down the Coopers, and even more so once she started assisting them in this manner, but this sounded like one of the more strange things for Bentley to come up with, "We're going to bug Rajan's office... with an actual bug?"
"It is an elegant plan, I agree." Bentley replied, as if he was proud of himself for thinking of such a thing, though Sly and Carmelita glanced at each other before focusing on Bentley again, as they were just going to let him have his way so they could get on with their mission, "Now there's something the two of you need to know before you start moving, that water bug can only survive in stagnant pools... if kept out of water too long it'll become unhappy and likely draw the attention of local guards."
"Well, it looks like there are a few pools along the way to Rajan's office." Sly commented, as he had taken in how the first pool looked and found another one that was some distance from where they were standing, and then a third one even further away, no doubt creating a trail right to the entrance of their destination, "A short swim every now and then should keep our little friend quiet."
Once they knew what they were doing, and both of them had put away their binocucoms, Sly picked up the water bug and started moving, to which the two of them jumped down to the area of the structure were the knocked out guard was resting, carefully descended to the area behind the guards that were looking into the ruined satellite array, and then climbed up the side of the building across from the structure so he could put the bug in the pond that was up there. While he did that Carmelita surprised the guard that was patrolling the area in front of the building Sly was standing on and knocked him out, before spotting the next pool. The moment Sly felt that the water bug was ready to be moved he picked it up and jumped down to where Carmelita was standing, to which they crossed over the vine that was in front of them, jumped down behind a rhino guard, and headed to the left at the top of the small wooden bridge that the guard had been protecting. From there it was a simple matter to bring the water bug to the next pond, though Carmelita did smack the snake that emerged from one of the bushes, keeping both her and Sly safe while they spent a few seconds waiting for the water bug to calm down.
A few moments later Carmelita let Sly move up the vines that were in front of him while she grabbed the water bug this time around, before she followed after him as he carefully cleared a path towards the next pond that happened to be sitting near a ruined tower of some kind. After letting the water bug swim in that pond for a few moments the duo headed down the path that was in front of them, passing by the truck that Bentley, Murray, and Diz seemed to be sitting on while they waited for this particular mission to be over so Bentley could focus on his task, before they reached the pond that rested near a large stone archway. From there they headed into the actual ruins that was near Rajan's office and climbed the steps that were in front of them, to which Sly knocked out the guard that was in their way while Carmelita set the water bug down for another quick swim. She then moved forward and sought out the next pond, which she discovered was in an area that had two rhino guards patrolling it, to which she smiled as she stealthily took them both out, allowing Sly to carry the water bug up here without any incidents. The moment the water bug was ready Sly found a spot on the wall behind them where he could sneak his way over to a balcony, which both he and Carmelita did without delay, before they used a large mushroom as a jump spot to reach the top of the path above them... which brought them to the final pond and the entrance of Rajan's office, an entrance that they entered without delay.
The moment they were through the entrance they found a nice looking office, with a table or two with a number of spices and some throw pillows resting in front of the windows, before they walked over to the desk and let the water bug down inside the pond that was near it, where the bug floated for a few seconds.
"Excellent! I've already tuned into the bug's wing vibrations!" Bentley declared, though while they were happy at the mission being completed, as it meant they could grab the vault and leave, both Sly and Carmelita heard the sound of Diz and Murray being happy as well, "I'm a genius!"
Sly chuckled as he approached the vault, but as he did so he decided to try something, as he stepped to the side and let Carmelita stare at it, because while he knew that she could adapt to the Cooper techniques like he and the others could, and he had seen that with his own eyes, there was one thing that would be a problem for her. Carmelita, however, seemed to understand what he was doing and stared at the vault for a few seconds, clearly weighing her options at the moment, before she sighed and stepped forward. Sly then watched as Bentley gave them the combination, which was 3-8-6, and watched as Carmelita actually entered the code into the vault, where she opened it and revealed some blueprints on adding something to weapons to release an electric discharge. With that in hand the two of them left the Cooper Gang calling card in it's rightful place, knowing that Rajan wouldn't be back here for some time since Bentley was going to be hunting him down for the blueprints, before they departed from the office and started to make their way back towards the hideout... using a path that wouldn't put them in Bentley's way.
"I can't believe I actually did that," Carmelita commented, as she honestly couldn't believe that she had opened the vault in such a manner and took the blueprints that had been inside it, but she also knew that if she really wanted to be part of the gang, if such a thing were to ever happen, she'd have to get used to the feeling.
"Carmelita, there's nothing for you to be ashamed of," Sly said, to which he stopped her and rested a hand on her shoulder, so he could look her in the eyes and let her know that he was there for her, if she wanted to talk about what was bothering her, "Rajan was likely going to sell that to someone and get a lot of people hurt in the process, so it's better we take it and use it against those that would harm innocent people... or not use it at all, if that's your preference. It's better for everyone, regardless of how you look at it."
Carmelita hadn't thought of it like that, and she wasn't sure that Rajan was into selling weapons or weapon alterations like this, but she didn't say anything as they headed back to the hideout, giving her time to think about what it meant to actually be a member of the Cooper Gang... and, more importantly, what it meant to be a Cooper Thief like Sly.
Bentley waited until he found the frequency of the water bug on his radar once more, gave the duo the combination and heard the vault being opened, and waited until he saw Sly and Carmelita heading back towards the hideout before he, Murray, and Diz jumped off the truck they were on top of. The reason he had asked Murray and Diz to come along was because of something that was going to happen when he started hunting for Rajan, because he was going to need their assistance during this mission and he knew that Murray would have been disappointed to miss an opportunity to beat some of the guards up. The instant they touched the ground Bentley headed up the pathway that Sly and Carmelita had used to reach Rajan's office, as the path to their mission and the path to his mission was the same one, which meant he was able to reach his destination without having to engage anyone. Once he reached the area he had selected for himself, and raised his binocucom to look around the area, Murray and Diz stood guard over him as he worked, as they knew that he would move soon enough for the real reason they were out here.
He stood there for a few moments, watching the door that Sly and Carmelita had passed by as he waited to see if he was right in his earlier suspicions, though when the door handle moved he focused his mind as Rajan walked out and closed the door behind him.
"As I expected, Rajan is out for his daily tour of the operation." Bentley commented, to which Murray and Diz hid themselves, in the off chance that their target looked up at the walkway that they were standing on, which would ruin the mission before it even started, "I have a reliable source that claims Rajan always carries three blueprints on him, which when read together, tell you everything about his spice operation."
"It's too bad he's not carrying the section of the Clockwerk Heart Sly and Carmelita saw during their recon." Diz said, as he noticed that the wooden staff Rajan carried was missing the half of the metallic pump that had been the ancient owl's Heart, "You could just pump him full of sleep darts and we could all go home."
"Unfortunately, my sleep darts aren't powerful enough to affect Rajan." Bentley stated, as he had done some thinking and research before they came here, because he had thought about trying that as well, but quickly came to the conclusion that his darts weren't going to work.
"What?" Murray asked, his voice sounding surprised, not that Bentley could blame him for thinking that way, since he could see Diz was a little shocked as well, but Bentley was also happy to see that Murray wasn't shouting his words this time around, "Then how are we supposed going to get at him?"
"I found out something interesting while I was doing my research," Bentley said, to which he beckoned for Murray and Diz to use their binocucoms, where he seized control of them when they did and zeroed in on a watermelon that was resting nearby, "Rajan has an insatiable appetite for Indian watermelons, which, if eaten whole, will force even him to nod off for a while. Once he's asleep, I'll creep in and lift the blueprints."
"How are we going to lure him over to the various watermelons that rest around the ruins?" Diz asked, as he was curious as to how they were going to force Rajan to explore the ruins and eat the watermelons until Bentley had all of the blueprints that the tiger was carrying.
"I've equipped my sleep darts with a sonic disrupter," Bentley explained, referring to something he had done before they had come into the jungle, just in the off chance that such a thing was necessary to get some additional information on the spice operation, "the strange sounds they make should be enough to lead the ever curious Rajan from place to place."
Murray and Diz glanced at each other and shrugged their shoulders, as they didn't do the research and knew that Bentley likely had everything figured out, to which they put their binocucoms away and watched as Bentley fired the first dart at a wall that was near Rajan. At first they thought nothing was going to happen, but then Rajan, hearing the noise of the dart hitting the wall, started to move up the stairs as he followed the sound, to which the duo grinned as Bentley fired a second one. At that point the three of them watched as Rajan moved up to a watermelon and feasted on it, where he went to sleep, exactly like Bentley said he would, before the trio moved in and dropped down to where Rajan was curled up around his staff. Murray and Diz quickly removed the curious guards that were in the area, hauling them away to a place where Rajan wouldn't find them until later, where he could punish them for sleeping on the job, before they stood at a safe distance while Bentley lifted the first blueprints from Rajan's pocket... where he ran away before the effects of the watermelons wore off.
A few seconds later Rajan snapped out of his slumber and continued walking again, as if nothing had happened, though that only prompted Bentley to locate the next watermelon so he could repeat the process and get the second blueprint from their target. The fortunate part about having to find the next watermelon was that it was right next to the truck they had been standing on, to which Bentley picked another good vantage point and carefully led Rajan over to the watermelon's location, where the tiger devoured it and fell asleep again. As Bentley moved in to grab the blueprints Murray and Diz repeated their task and knocked out the guards that were in the area, allowing him to get what they came for and retreat the moment the second one was in his hands. Rajan, upon waking, seemed to know that something was going on, but that didn't stop him from following the sounds that Bentley's darts were making, especially as he led the way to a building with a watermill... where Rajan put himself to sleep upon devouring the third watermelon, allowing the trio to swoop in and repeat the motions until Bentley had what he came for.
With the third and final blueprint acquired, giving them the full scope of Rajan's operations, the trio moved to a safe spot and watched as Rajan freaked out when he realized that the blueprints had been stolen from his person, to which he fled to the safety of his temple... leaving Bentley to hope that he hadn't just scared their target into hiding or something.
After spending a few minutes pouring over the blueprints, and listening to whatever was said inside Rajan's office, Bentley quickly came to the conclusion that his theft of the blueprints, combined with the destruction of the satellite array, had driven Rajan into hiding. Fortunately for the rest of the gang he already had an idea on how to force the tiger out of hiding and drive him out into the open, though one of the things that he had planned was the destruction of the spice grinder, putting the hurt on his operation. Bentley also considered the destruction of the nearby dam to try and flood Rajan out, though he also asked that Murray acquire one of the rubies from the temple, as he planned on trading that stone for some extra firepower that might be able to get their target out in the open. Bentley confirmed that the plan was to make Rajan angry and then drive him to collect the Clockwerk Heart, bringing all of it to them, allowing them to take him out before Interpol showed up to arrest him.
Despite the fact that Sly said that he could take on the spice grinder all by himself, and he felt that he could when he noticed that the blueprints showed there were only a few guards down there, Carmelita insisted on going with him, to watch his back, and Gilda came along for the journey as well, mostly because she hadn't done much so far. Fortunately the entrance to the area that the spice grinder was located in was near the truck that Bentley had stood on earlier, only it required a little bit of sneaking around a corner so they could open the door and drop down into the area below them. When they reached the floor and stood up, however, the three of them noticed that there were some laser fences blocking their path, but at the same time they knew that such a thing had never stopped one of them in the past, which meant they only needed to find the way to get ride of them.
"According to Rajan's blueprints the three of you are near the Spice Grinding Facility," Bentley stated, speaking into their ears at the moment, as none of them were interested in lifting their binocucoms for a few seconds before they put them away, "however, as you all know, the passage is blocked by those laser fences."
"It looks like they're using TNT to create these catacombs... maybe we can 'borrow' some to destroy the fences." Gilda commented, looking at the side of the tunnel they were in, as there happened to be a TNT barrel dispenser near them, which was another poor design decision in her mind, "Do we just move the barrel over and let it explode, or is there some sort of method we're supposed to use?"
"Oh, it's actually quite simple." Bentley said, knowing that none of the gang had the opportunity to work with this type of explosive before, despite the fact that he had some knowledge of what they needed to do, "You just need one of you to jump into the barrel, walk it over to whatever your targeting, and then jump out and get clear of the blast radius. But do be careful around floor lasers, as the TNT barrels won't work on them."
Sly, being the closest to the dispenser, jumped into the first barrel that was in the area they were in, to which he carefully walked it over to where the laser fence was located and jumped out the moment he reached it, before running to where Carmelita and Gilda were standing. A few seconds later the three of them watched as the barrel detonated and took out the fence, allowing them to move forward once more, where they discovered that the next obstacle was a moving laser wall that only had three points. Another thing they discovered was that the dispenser had a limit as to how many barrels it could spit out at a time, as it seemed to be just the one, though Carmelita made sure that Sly was safe since he was being the stubborn one at the moment. Sly was able to move the barrel into the second fence and destroy it, though that was when they spotted the floor lasers that would prevent the dispenser from being any use to them, so they headed down the tunnel on their right and avoided the spotlights that were moving from wall to wall... before they made a left turn at the end of the tunnel and turned towards their left, where they ducked under the horizontal moving lasers and found their target.
It wasn't hard to locate the spice grinder, since it was the only circular device that was grinding the spice at the moment, but at the same time they discovered that there were two guards watching over the grinder and at least two more on the level below them, where the next dispenser was located.
Sly and Carmelita nodded as they jumped down into the area below them and immediately knocked out the guards that were down there, leaving Gilda to knock out the two rhino guards that were around the spice grinder and move them so they weren't hurt when the explosive barrel went off. Once the coast was clear Sly jumped into the TNT barrel and moved it to the laser fence that was blocking the way out of this area, where he jumped out of it and tore the fence apart, opening the way back to the tunnel they had been in moments ago. Carmelita surprised him by being the one to grab the barrel next, as she carefully walked over to where he was standing and went by him, to which he carefully followed after her and watched as she made her way through the spotlight infested hallway, passed under the horizontal lasers, and walked around the wooden walkway that brought her to the spice grinder. Fortunately Carmelita timed it right, as the moment she got the TNT barrel to the grinder the wheel was nearly upon it, where she jumped out and leapt over to where Sly and Gilda were standing... before the grinder was destroyed by the barrel's explosion, causing a message from Rajan to sound out throughout the area, where they discovered that the production of spice had been stopped.
With the mission complete the three of them retraced their steps towards the entrance, headed back outside, and started the walk towards the hideout, though as they did that Carmelita spotted the familiar movement of Neyla off in the distance, where she tapped on Sly's shoulder for a moment.
"What's wrong?" Sly asked, because while he knew there were guards around the area, and some of them were going to be annoyed when they heard the spice grinder had been destroyed, he had no idea what Carmelita had seen or what she might have heard.
"Neyla." Carmelita replied, keeping her voice low, as she didn't know if Neyla had placed listening devices nearby or something else, but she didn't want to give the constable any information to use against her, even though she was still in good graces with Secretary Sen, "She's here."
Sly nodded and had Gilda head back to the hideout, as he had the feeling that this might be like what happened in Paris and he wanted the others to know that he and Carmelita would be a little late getting back, and that they might want to move on with the missions while they were dealing with Neyla. Once Gilda was underway Sly and Carmelita headed over to where she had seen Neyla's movements, which ended up in an area by a few trees and a rather large mushroom, where Neyla dropped down behind them and caused them to turn around.
"Cooper, we meet again." Neyla said, though at the same time she stared at Carmelita, who hoped that the constable believed Sly's story that she was 'Kate Cooper' and not a cop in disguise, "And I see that you brought your new protege along for the journey again."
"Like I said back in Paris, she's learning how to be a Cooper Thief," Sly replied, knowing that it was at least half true at the very least, as he was only teaching Carmelita the techniques she needed to know so she could keep up with him, unless she already knew them ahead of time, before he focused on Neyla, "but we should focus on the matter at hand. I'm surprised you managed to get here so quickly, without the rest of your detail or your commanding officers."
"Please, the Contessa and I are more than enough to bring in anyone," Neyla stated, revealing to the duo that she felt that she was better than a large majority of the people that worked for Interpol, especially Carmelita herself if Sly was reading her words right, "Besides, I haven't seen Old Ironsides since we busted half of Rajan's guards at his ball, as she just up and disappeared the moment I started the paperwork, just like what happened when we busted Dimitri a few weeks ago. You know, Director Barkley was rather upset when he heard that, because he's actually getting tired of Carmelita acting like she owns the place and skipping some of her work every time we bring someone in, all because she's got a powerful ally in one of the Secretaries."
Sly knew who Director Barkley was, as that was Carmelita's mentor when he had been attempting to rob an opera house because the stage manager was one of his targets, though in the end he actually helped Carmelita, who Barkley was screaming and shouting at because she couldn't catch him, by finding the stage manager, tied him up, and delivered him right to the group with the Diva Diamond he was attempting to steal. That was the event that signaled the start of their relationship, as after that night Carmelita made it her mission to hunt down Sly, his family, and his gang so she could put them all behind bars, or at least that had been her plan at the time. He could only imagine how many times Barkley had shouted at Carmelita over the years, for her failure to stop him and his gang, and he already knew the lengths she'd go through to prove that she was a valued member of the law, to earn the respect of those around her. Hearing that Barkley was upset, more than he usually was when he dealt with Carmelita, was actually a really bad sign, as one false move and he could fire her in an instant... which would shatter Carmelita's world if such a thing came to pass, as she was still a cop at heart and he knew that he might not be able to change that part of her.
He could feel Carmelita tense up for a moment, as she was thinking the same thing that he was thinking, to which he decided to see what was going on with Neyla before something told her that Carmelita was standing beside him, as he didn't want them to fight it out.
"Neyla, as much as we like to converse with you, can we get to the matter at hand?" Sly asked, causing Neyla to turn towards him for a moment, as she happened to be staring at Carmelita when they were thinking about Barkley, "What are you doing out here?"
"I've learned of a secret entrance leading to half of the Clockwerk Heart." Neyla stated, to which a light smile appeared on her face as she noticed the look that appeared in Sly's eyes, and potentially the same look that also graced Carmelita's eyes as well, "Legally I can't enter the premises without a warrant, but now a pair of thieves like you two..."
"A pair of thieves like us can go wherever they please." Sly replied, as he remembered what Neyla had said back in Paris, though at the same time both he and Carmelita prepared themselves for a run through the ruins, as that was what had to be coming next.
"Don't fall behind while I lead you to the entrance." Neyla said, to which she turned her back to the duo, indicating that she was getting ready to leave the area, before she glanced back at them for a few seconds, "This place is thick with guards and standing still could be lethal."
Sly and Carmelita followed after Neyla as she led the way through the ruins, killing or crippling the guards that she came across, while at the same time surprising Sly by the fact that she was able to use the Rail Walk technique on the vines that they had to walk across. That worried him, as he could understand some of the cops, like Carmelita and Neyla, knowing his family's techniques, but when someone like Neyla showed a mastery over them, something that someone like Carmelita should have thanks to the years studying him, it made him wonder if there was more to Neyla than what they knew. Despite that fact he and Carmelita carefully followed after Neyla as they moved through the ruins, passing over the obstacles that were in their way and jumping over the pond that was in front of the area that the ruby Bentley wanted the gang to grab was located in... before eventually coming to a stop at part of the ruins, where both of them noticed that part of the rock wall was different colored than the rock around it, just like Rajan's office entrance was.
Neyla jerked her head towards the door she had brought them to, where they nodded their heads to acknowledge what she was showing them, before she disappeared as quickly as she had appeared earlier, to which Sly and Carmelita pushed the stone button and headed into the tunnel that was in front of them... where they came out in the very area they had been taking pictures of earlier, with part of the Clockwerk Heart hanging in the air, where they had last seen it.
"Well, Neyla was right about the entrance," Carmelita commented, though while she hated to admit that Neyla was right, especially since she had discovered that Neyla actually didn't like her at all, based on what she had near a few minutes ago and two weeks ago in Paris, "and the control panel appears to be locked down tight... but that's never stopped you and the others before."
"Agreed." Sly said, though at the same time he spotted a glint of a key in the pocket of one of the guards, which made him grin as he realized what they were going to have to do to get the half of the Heart that was in front of them, "Here's another lesson for a Cooper Thief, how to pick a pocket... and I'm sure that the guards won't mind if we 'borrow' their keys for a few minutes."
Fortunately the rhino guard that was actually moving proved to be the perfect target for Sly, as he and Carmelita moved to an area that would allow the guard to walk by without noticing them, before he emerged from his hiding spot and approached the guard. Carmelita watched as Sly used the head of his cane and pulled out the coins that were tucked away in his back pocket, collecting them before they even touched the ground, before he gave one final tug on the pocket, where the key came free and he grabbed it. Carmelita had to admit that she was impressed by Sly's skills, something that she had constantly thought about over the years she had chased him, before he beckoned her to follow him over the various grow beds for Rajan's spice, where she did so and found them standing near the back of the second guard. It wasn't hard for her to guess what Sly wanted her to do, as she had seen him do it and knew what he had said a few seconds ago... though she mentally sighed as she snuck up on the guard, braced herself for what she was about to do, and used one of her miniature canes to yank out the coins that were in the guard's pocket.
A few tense seconds later, however, the second key came out of her target's pocket and she grabbed it before it could hit the ground and alert the guards to their presence, to which she and Sly approached the control panel and inserted the keys into their locks... before they pulled the switch and let the half of the Heart drop to the ground, where a miniature shockwave knocked the guards onto their backs and put them in an unconscious state for now.
"Looks like spice won't be growing around here anytime soon." Carmelita commented, though even as she spoke Sly picked up the half of the Heart that was in front of them with a smile on his face, to which she smiled as well, because this put them one step closer to stopping Rajan and his cohorts.
With half of the Clockwerk Heart in hand the two of them left the area of Rajan's operation that they were in and made their way back to the hideout to give the others the good news, and then they could focus on the final missions they needed to complete before they shut Rajan down for good... and then they could begin the hunt for the next Clockwerk part and the Klaww Gang member that stole it.
When Sly and Carmelita returned to the hideout with half of Clockwerk's Heart, which hadn't been in Bentley's original plans, the gang rejoiced their success, because this still put them one step closer to stopping what the Klaww Gang was doing and, hopefully, stop the ancient owl from returning. Of course Carmelita was still shocked by what she had done so far, especially when she could easily imagine herself doing it again and again in the future like an actual member of the Cooper Gang. Sly knew that she was conflicted over what she had done, even if it was to gather the stolen Clockwerk parts from those that had taken them, but he also knew that sooner or later she would have to comes to terms with the fact that she had a choice to make, one that wasn't going to be easy. He honestly couldn't see her giving up her position as an Inspector of Interpol, which she worked hard to earn in the first place, and yet he saw the makings of a thief beneath the shell that Carmelita had constructed around her.
After a few minutes of celebrating what the duo had done, and their recovery of half of Clockwerk's Heart, Bentley stated that it was time for them to get to work in finishing their preparations for the heist, as they had a ruby to recover and a dam to blow up before they were ready to move forward. As such Bentley determined that the first one they should go for is the ruby, as it would provide them with an additional tool to use again Rajan, and he stated that since he was sure that there would be extra guards on patrol when they attempted to remove the ruby, based on radio chatter, that the entire gang should participate in the mission. Once they were in agreement the gang headed out of the hideout and made their way to the area that the ruby was being held in, where Gilda, Derpy, and Carmelita knocked out the guards that were in the area to make things much easier in the beginning.
The moment Sly was in position, in front of the ruby, he pulled out his binocucom to get the full briefing as to why they were so interested in acquiring the ruby, as that was the part of the mission he didn't understand, unless they were going to rob Rajan blind as well, because he could get behind that logic.
"So Bentley, why are we stealing this ruby anyway?" Sly asked, to which he could see the others turning to look at Bentley for a moment, as they were all curious as to why they were doing this particular mission and had remained silent in the hopes that he would explain himself.
"We've been contracted to acquire that huge ruby of Rajan's for a local crime ring." Bentely explained, as while most of the others had been busy earlier he had discovered a message from the ring he was referring to, who preferred not to reveal who they were, and he quickly set up a deal with them when he learned of what they wanted, "In exchange for the goods, they'll set us up with a Cherry Bomb 500 for the heist."
"A Cherry Bomb 500!?" Carmelita asked, as she knew all about that type of explosive, because there had been several reports of a specific group, based in India of all places, that sold this type of explosives to whoever could buy them, though part of the reason Interpol didn't go after them was because the bombs were usually used for demolition and actually never hurt anyone, "Those bombs have a lot of kick."
"Trust me, we'll need it." Bentely said, though he refrained from saying Carmelita's name, especially since Neyla had to be around the area someplace and knew that the undercover Inspector might get in trouble in she was spotted here, hanging out with them, but it was hard to know since the Secretary could easily wipe the record clean, "Now Sly, to get that ruby free from its moorings you might have to whack it a few times with your cane."
"Is that all?" Sly inquired, as he was expecting that he'd have to haul up some explosives or something to get rid of the moorings that were surrounding the gemstone, but at the same time he was fortunate that there was an easy way to get the prize, "I'm on it."
Sly put away his binocucom and readied his cane, to which he swung it a few times and made sure to hit the moorings and not the gemstone, as he was afraid of shattering the stone on accident, though luck was with them as the stone came loose and fell to the ground... where it happened to land without taking any damage at all, as the rest of the stone that was attached to it acted like a protective coating and came off when it touched the ground.
"Murray, you're on." Bentley stated, as the moment the gemstone came loose he knew that they had to move quickly, because it was only a matter of time until Rajan's guards came out to bother them, "Now that Sly's knocked the ruby loose we need your muscle to get it to the buyers."
"Right!" Murray said, to which he headed over to the side of the path that would allow someone to get to where the ruby was now resting and used the large mushroom that was there to bounce to the roof of the structure, before he jumped down and headed for the ruby.
"Murray, you can pick up the ruby with that stomp move you used back in Paris." Sly spoke up, only doing so as his friend approached the ruby, to which he nodded as he remembered what he had done and did so to lift the ruby up off the ground, "You'll also need to be careful with the ruby, because despite it's size its likely fragile now. It looks like Bentley will run ahead and inflate cushions that are safe for you to throw the ruby onto, while the rest of the gang and I keep you guys safe from the guards. Now, head out to our rendezvous near the waterfall."
Murray nodded his understanding as he turned around, just in time to watch Bentley set down the first cushion that Sly had told him about, to which he threw it over to the cushion and watched as it landed at his target location without damaging the stone. From there Murray jumped over the stone obstacle that had been in his way, picked up the ruby, and followed after Bentley as he led him towards the locked gate that was in front of them, where Bentley pulled out a bomb and destroyed the gate. With the way open the two of them continued towards the right of where the ruby had been resting, though as they did so Murray saw that Sly and Carmelita, for the most part, would be collecting the cushions that Bentley used so they didn't leave evidence behind, and also to reuse them since Sly gave the first cushion back to Bentely a few seconds later. Of course Murray had to throw the gemstone three more times so they could get it over the ruined path in front of them, though so far he wasn't seeing any of the guards that Bentley had been so worried about... until he came to a stop by the waterfall and set the ruby down on the cushion that had been placed on the ground.
That was immediately followed by a purple robed figure, one that was either a member of the crime ring or a third party that was involved in the exchange, appeared behind the ruby and picked it up with little to no effort, though it was clear that they were studying the stone.
"This ruby is near flawless." the robed figure said, to which they gently returned the ruby to the cushion and took a step back from it, before they pointed off in the distance, silently referring to a place that they had told Bentley about when they were setting up this entire exchange, "I'll recommend to my superiors that we purchase it... take it to our buyer and complete the contract."
The instant following the command the robed figure disappeared in a flash, to which Bentley started to move again and Murray picked up the gemstone as he followed after his friend, while the others followed behind them so they could be on the lookout for any additional enemies. Along the way one of the baboon guards spotted them and started to raise the alarm, so while Gilda knocked him out the others defended Murray as the alerted guards came running towards the source of the disturbance, making sure to knock them all out so they could prevent them from calling more guards to their location. Murray, on the other hand, was able to follow Bentley to the next area he had to throw the ruby to, though as he crossed over to where the gemstone was the others caught up him, to which they watched as he moved the stone over the gap that was in front of them and then settled it in front of a tree, where the gang gathered behind him and Bentley as they waited to see what happened.
For a moment nothing happened, making them wonder if they were being played, before a second robed figure appeared from the shadows between the tree and the gemstone, to which it also picked up the ruby and studied it, just to make sure that it was what the person had been told about.
"I must say, the Cooper Gang certainly lives up to its reputation." the robed figure said, though it's voice sounded impressed, indicating that it's group had heard the stories about the gang and now knew that they were true, "This is a true Indian treasure. We will honor the bargain and provide a Cherry Bomb 500 at the time the turtle requested."
Once that was said and done the robed figure slipped the ruby into it's robe and disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, leaving the group to wonder what they were going to do next, which was when Bentley stated that he was going to take care of the final mission before the heist began. Before some of them headed back to the hideout, as Bentley said he needed Gilda and Derpy to assist him for a moment, Bentley also explained that the extra guards must have been a request that Rajan had put in, though that did nothing to them, as the guards weren't supposed to arrive for another day or two, after he double checked the blueprints anyway. While the others headed back to the hideout, to rest up for the main event and so Carmelita could have a chance to change back into her cop attire for Rajan's arrest, Bentley, Gilda, and Derpy headed towards the final mission beacon... which happened to be near the truck that they he, Murray, and Diz had stood on when he was hunting Rajan for the blueprints.
"Rajan's holed up in his temple still." Gilda commented, as she figured that the moment Bentley stood beside the truck they were in the mission area that he had set for himself, to which she and Derpy turned and looked at him for a few seconds as she tried to figure out how he was going to destroy the dam, "Since you're plan involves blowing up the dam that presents an interesting problem, as your bombs aren't strong enough to blow a hole in the structure."
"You're correct in the fact that my bombs aren't strong enough for such a thing." Bentley stated, though at the same time he tapped the side of the truck for a moment, revealing that he knew something that the two of them didn't know, but was going to tell them what he knew anyway, "Fortunately while monitoring the bug in Rajan's office I overheard that an auto-pilot attack helicopter had just arrived. It's sitting inside this truck."
"Really?" Derpy asked, as that was an interesting object for someone like Rajan to purchase, though she guessed that it was a replacement for the chopper that they destroyed above the palace earlier, "Okay, I'm sure that you can complete a mission like this on your own... so why did you insist on Gilda and I coming along with you?"
"Because I want to utilize your elemental abilities in this mission," Bentley explained, though while he did that he attached a bomb to the side of the truck and tore the container apart, revealing the helicopter that was under it, before he turned back to the sisters, "Since Rajan is sure to call on more of his forces to shoot me down, and I'm one hundred percent convinced that he'll do that, the two of you can make use of the wind and what remains of the storm to force the enemy choppers to collide with each other or with the dam itself."
Gilda and Derpy glanced at each other for a moment, as they were surprised that Bentley was asking them for help in this manner, before they decided that they might as well see if either of them could be of any help to him, where Bentley smiled as he climbed into the chopper and turned it on. As the chopper ascended towards the air, and Bentley pointed the guns at the dam, both Gilda and Derpy moved up to the tusks that were near the location of the ruby Sly had freed a few minutes ago, giving them a good view of the dam and the enemy helicopters that were already moving out. Fortunately Bentley was right that they could manipulate what was left of the storm to his advantage, as Gilda started moving the wind around the enemy choppers and forced some of them to either collide with each other or use the blades to damage one of their allies, enough to send them flying into the side of the dam and damaged it. Derpy, on the other hand, had to pick and choose her targets, as there really wasn't a lot of lightning energy left in the clouds, not after she used the majority of it to blow the satellite array to pieces... but even so the few bits of lightning she could muster, without using her own energy to create lightning, she damaged the choppers she picked and did the same thing that Gilda did.
Bentley focused all of his efforts on the dam, as the enemy helicopters were too focused on trying not to hurt each other as they fought Gilda's wind pushing them around, or were forced to abandon ship when Derpy hit a critical part of their chopper... and, in the end, he did enough damage to the dam and blew it open, while at the same time taking some damage from a fragment of the dam that struck the chopper. Fortunately Bentley was able to prevent the chopper from hitting the ground or something else that would have killed him, though as he slammed into the ruined tower that was near the truck it replaced the top of it, giving it a permanent position that they might be able to use to their advantage in the near future. Once the chopper had come to a stop Gilda and Derpy flew over to it and made sure that Bentley was okay, though once that was done they grabbed onto him so they could get him back to the hideout... where he could tell them what they needed to do next, if the destruction of the dam didn't do what he wanted it to do.
They spent thirty minutes studying the effects of the dam's destruction and found that, despite the spice grinder's destruction and everything else they had done so far, Rajan didn't seem interested in leaving the ruins, causing Bentley to determine that the partial flooding of the ruins had failed. As such he stated that it was time for them to go the distance, as his plan involved blowing up the temple's elephant mouth, which should turn this grotto into a swimming pool, though he intended to cover Murray from the chopper's gun turret while he pried the mouth open. Of course Diz, Gilda, and Derpy were tasked with being his bodyguards while he did that, to protect him from any guards that revealed themselves, before they all fled the scene. Once the mouth was open Sly would need to walk the Cherry Bomb 500 into the throat, while avoiding the guards that were in his way, before he joined the others and fled to high ground before the flooding of the ruins happened. Bentley was sure that Rajan was sure to show up and be extra angry, where they would jump him the moment he showed himself, take his half of the Clockwerk Heart, and then they'd get out of the area before Neyla and her friends showed up.
Carmelita, now dressed in her cop attire once more, would have no part in this operation, as she had to leave the area and pretend to 'catch up' with Neyla's group so they could bust Rajan when they arrived, giving Bentley an idea of where they were and how much time they had left to make their escape... to which she told them that she hoped the operation went well and departed with the pack that she had brought with her.
Once Carmelita was gone, and the gang was actually sad to see her go since she was such a valuable member of the team when she assisted them, Bentley had everyone get ready immediately, as the sooner they get this done the sooner they could get out of here and start the hunt for their next target. As such he had Murray and the others move out immediately, though while they did that Sly headed out for the area that the Cherry Bomb was being stored in, and he also had Diz drop him off at the chopper, so he'd be in place as well. The moment Bentley was in position he called a role check to be sure that everyone was in position, where he heard that Murray's group was near the mission beacon and that Sly was in position as well, indicating that everyone was in position for the heist, to which he called operation 'Wet Tiger' was a go and that Murray's group was ready to depart.
As such Diz led the way towards the location of the lever Bentley wanted Murray to pull, as he had seen it when he and Murray were guarding Bentley when he grabbed Rajan's blueprints earlier, though when they arrived at their destination the trio stood at the ready around Murray as he started to pull the lever up. At the same time the trio glanced up at the sky once or twice and found that Rajan's remaining chopper was raining hunter seeker bombs on the area, so while Bentley fired at them, blowing them to pieces before they could reach the ground, Derpy braced herself as she waited for the chopper to stop raining bombs on them. The moment the hunter seeker bombs were taken care of, and Bentley reported that no more were raining down towards the ground, Derpy called the lightning one more time and blasted the helicopter, damaging it so the pilot had to abandon it as it crashed into the hillside... which was followed by Murray's cry of triumph as he lowered the mouth and revealed the area that Sly was supposed to deliver the Cherry Bomb 500 to in the next few minutes.
As Dix flew up to where Bentley was hiding, since he wasn't needed for the rest of the heist at the moment, Murray headed up to the area that the ruby had been located in so he could jump Rajan with Sly and the others, though while they did that Gilda and Derpy flew over to Sly's location and kept beating their wings so they could keep watch for guards that might find him. Between the two of them the guards didn't stand a chance, as either Gilda or Derpy would knock out the guards that were in the path that Sly decided to use, before he reached the area that the target was located in, where he quickly jumped out of the barrel and let his sisters carry him up to Murray before they headed to the chopper to watch what happened next. Not a few seconds later the Cherry Bomb 500 exploded and the majority of the ruins was flooded by the water that surged out of the opening they had created, while at the same time the water in front of the area Rajan was supposed to emerge from emptied and wooden spires erupted from the walkway leading to the door. Bentley, Diz, Derpy, and Gilda were surprised by the spires, as they hadn't been in any of the plans they had seen and had no reason to plan around something like this happening... but they said nothing as the door opened and Rajan, carrying the second half of the Clockwerk Heart, emerged from where he had been hiding.
Rajan took a look around his now flooded ruins and growled in annoyance, to which he jumped up to the top of the building he had emerged from and stood above where the ruby had been located, though whether or not he noticed it's absence didn't matter as he turned to face the flooded area.
"Black Clouds and Thunderbolts!" Rajan loudly declared, to which he spread his arms out, as if he was giving a speech to someone, where the gang knew that he was likely preparing to address them all, or maybe one specific person as Sly found Rajan's eyes on him, "My spice temple... ruined! I will no longer hide while you villains destroy my hard won empire. This place is mine... here I am King! Come, face me, Cooper. With Clockwerk's black heart, I will show you true power. You are nothing. Come, face the might of Rajan, lord of these hills."
"Boy, when we try to tick someone off we really do the job." Sly commented, as when Bentley said make Rajan angry he wasn't expecting this, meaning that he should really change his ideas of what making someone angry meant, so that he wouldn't be caught off guard again.
"Yes... you do seem to have quite a talent for it." a voice said, to which Neyla appeared nearby, though when Sly glanced over to her he found that neither the Contessa or Carmelita were present yet, which meant that part of Bentley's plan wasn't working the way it was supposed to.
"Constable Neyla, I wasn't expecting you and your band to arrive until later." Sly stated, as this changed part of their plan entirely, as letting someone like Neyla observe them taking out Rajan wasn't something they usually did, and knowing her he figured that there was something else at play here.
"That man is an illegal spice trader," Neyla replied, deciding to ignore Sly's comment and focus on the tiger that was staring at them, as he appeared to be her target at the moment, and her next words seemed to confirm what she was here to do, "he should be brought to justice."
"All we're after is the Clockwerk part he has." Sly said, though at the same time he gripped his cane and prepared himself for what he was about to do next, especially since he was sure that his next words were going to annoy Neyla a tiny bit, "Try to keep up with me."
The moment Sly said that he used the large mushroom that was nearby and jumped up to the top of the first spire that was in front of him, using the Ninja Spire Jump to land safely on the point that was in front of him before he jumped to the second one and avoided the lightning that Rajan was calling down to smite him. Neyla, apparently annoyed with Sly, followed after him and mimicked his movements, but she stayed behind him and watched where he was going while keeping an eye on Rajan. Neyla then grinned as she noticed Rajan getting ready to smite the spire that Sly was standing on, to which she used her whip and caught his leg from behind and caused him to stagger for a moment, where the lightning struck Sly and blasted him off the spires that he had been moving through. Murray and the others watched as Sly fell into the empty pond, where Rajan gave a wild grin as he jumped into the area and kicked the wounded Sly in the chest, knocking him against the edge of the area they were in.
"Wha?" Murray said, as it had all happened so fast that he must have missed something, though hearing Sly getting kicked put his senses into overdrive as he prepared to jump down and beat Rajan up, as that appeared to be the only way they were going to get away with the Heart now, "Sly! I'm coming, buddy!"
"This is it?" Rajan demanded, annoyance flashing on his face as he stared at Sly, while at the same time mostly ignoring Murray as he jumped down into the area, though he did turn on the laser barrier to prevent the two from being together for a few seconds, "This is the Cooper Gang I've heard so much about and feared these long hours?"
"Oh, there is more to the Cooper Gang than this," Murray said, to which he raised his fists and prepared himself, as he knew that a fight was coming up and he was ready to put Rajan in his place, especially since he seemed to think that he was going to win before the battle even started, "besides, 'The Murray' will renew your fear."
"Who's 'The Murray?" Rajan asked, to which he glared at Murray for a moment, because the names of the most feared members of the gang were Sly himself, his sisters Gilda and Derpy, and the latest addition Diz, while the rest of them were still nobodies to him, "All I see is a fat, pathetic weakling."
Murray roared in anger at being called a 'weakling', because he had prepared himself for being the gang's muscle and he never once considered himself to be weak, and immediately lashed out at Rajan, noticing that his opponent was definitely resilient to his punches. Rajan, on the other hand, used the staff that he was holding and tried to either swipe out Murray's feet or crush him with the length of the staff, which Murray had to avoid before he could respond with his own punches. Not even a minute into the fight Rajan called on the remaining guards that had survived the flooding and ordered them to join him, to overpower Murray, while also using the power of the Heart to shock the water around him, though when he did that he stood on a lily pad to negate being hurt and Murray did the same thing. Once the shock was over, and he escaped without damage, Murray grabbed onto one of the guards and slammed him into Rajan, staggering the tiger for a moment, before unleashing a storm of powerful blows that knocked him into the laser wall that was behind him, shocking him and lowering his defenses.
Despite the constant damage he was dealing to Rajan, with his fists and the laser walls, and constantly avoiding the attacks to the best of his ability, it took Murray a few minutes to actually deal enough damage to Rajan to knock him out, proving that he was one of the more challenging opponents he had fought since he started training to reach this point in time... though with his victory assured he took Rajan's half of the Clockwerk Heart from his staff and stashed it away, while at the same time the laser wall faded and allowed him to tend to Sly.
"Happy day!" Neyla said, to which Murray turned around and looked up at the area that was above them, as he found the Constable staring down at him, a wounded Sly, and a knocked out Rajan with a smile on her face that was unlike the usual expressions she had showed them earlier.
"Neyla? Throw down a ladder, Sly's hurt real bad..." Murray called out, hoping that Neyla might be like Carmelita and actually be on their side, but even as he said that he noticed that she seemed to be ignoring his cries for assistance, "can you hear me? I said Sly's hurt!"
"There they are Contessa, just as I promised." Neyla said, to which both the Contessa and Carmelita appeared behind her, though while one of them was looking at the group with an uncaring look in her eyes, which was the Contessa, one of them was worried the moment she spotted Sly, which was Carmelita, "The Cooper Gang and Rajan all incapacitated."
"Excellent police work Constable Neyla." Contessa replied, her voice sounding like she was actually praising Neyla for her actions, even though they all knew she had done absolutely nothing to reach this point, "Carmelita's never been able to catch the Cooper Gang, yet you captured them in just a few short weeks."
Carmelita tensed for a few seconds as she walked over to the edge and found that Murray was tended to a wounded Sly, who looked a little fazed from what happened to him but would be alright within a few days, but she couldn't say nothing, especially when both of her fellow cops were doing something wrong.
"Really Neyla? You 'captured' the Cooper Gang?" Carmelita asked, to which she turned around and stared at Neyla for a moment, while at the same time noticing that the Contessa raised an eyebrow for a moment, "Please, right now you are breaking an agreement that Secretary Sen has with the Cooper Gang... what do you think he'll do when he finds out that you broke the arrangement and arrested the Cooper Gang? Your career as a cop might be over when he hears the news and Contessa, you might end up losing a rank for allowing such a thing to happen on your watch."
"Really Carmelita, that's the best you could come up with?" Contessa asked, surprising Carmelita by her disregard for the fact that Secretary Sen could do so much to her and Neyla for breaking this agreement, one that Interpol had stayed true to for the last two years, "By the time Secretary Sen learns of what has happened it will be too late to undo the damage you have caused to your own reputation... so you should just accept your defeat gracefully."
"Actually, Contessa, there's a good reason Inspector Fox never caught the Cooper Gang," Neyla said, though Carmelita didn't like the smile that was on Neyla's face, as that only spelled disaster for her and the others, even those that were in hiding at the moment, "she's been in league with them since the beginning of her career."
"That's a lie and you know it!" Carmelita snapped, as she couldn't believe that Neyla was trying to do this right now, but it appeared that she was finally playing the hand that both she and Sly had been worried about when they saw her attitude back at Rajan's ball.
"The first time Sly helped you further your career was when you 'caught' the person who stole the Diva Diamond all those years ago," Neyla stated, revealing that she had read all of the cases that Carmelita had been on since she first became a cop, and that she was starting with the first one that Sly had been involved in, "and since then you have followed him and his gang as they committed countless heists across the world, purposely using them to bust villains like the Fiendish Five and increase your reputation as a whole. Then, after defeating Clockwerk, you started assisting them in all of their heists, giving them the location of several objects they could steal from several criminals, including the Venus de Whalo and several other important pieces. Sometime after Diz joined the Cooper Gang you learned that the Clockwerk parts were being transported to the Cairo Museum, where you gave them the information on where the parts were located so they could steal them... and, to prove my point even more, here's some photos I took earlier."
Carmelita watched as Neyla pulled out a bundle of photos and handed them over to the Contessa, who took them and started looking them over with a look of interest in her eyes, though Carmelita knew that there was only one thing that would make such a thing happen... which didn't bode well for her, especially when the two cops were completely disregarding Secretary Sen's orders.
"Those photos show Sly Cooper running around with a thief he called 'Kate Cooper'," Neyla said, to which Carmelita's fears came to life, as Neyla had something that would convince the Contessa to disregard the arrangement the Cooper Gang had with the Secretary, "I've actually come into contact with them twice since the Clockwerk parts were stolen from the Cairo Museum, once outside Dimitri's nightclub and right out here as well, and I know who the mysterious new thief really is. 'Kate Cooper' is none other than Carmelita Fox, which you can tell just by looking at the pictures I have prepared for you... and, like I told Sly back in Paris, my predator senses never lie and I made sure to familiarize myself to Carmelita's personal scent, which was coming from 'Kate' both times I encountered her."
"I must say, the evidence is pretty convincing." Contessa commented, glancing between the photos that she had been given, while at the same time not even bothering to show Carmelita what Neyla had given her, not that she needed to see a scene that she had been apart of, "Inspector Fox, do you have anything to say?"
"Secretary Sen approved of me doing what was necessary to stop the Klaww Gang and recover the Clockwerk parts, even if it meant becoming a thief for a few hours." Carmelita stated, though at the same time Neyla approached her and tore open the pack that she was carrying at the moment, revealing the thief attire she had been carrying since she left the hideout before the operation began.
"And the final piece of evidence, the attire from her double life." Neyla said, to which she stepped to the side and looked at Carmelita again, while at the same time some of the Contessa's guards approached the group, as they were eager to do their mistress' bidding, "Oh, and don't worry Carmelita, I dropped a packet containing some new information on all the cases you worked where Sly Cooper was involved, on Director Barkley's desk, highlighting everything that you did to let them get away and how you busted all those villains. I think it's safe to say that you're reputation will be shattered in due time... and it's all because you were corrupted by the Cooper Gang's influence."
"Carmelita, do you have anything else to say, in light of all the evidence that's been presented?" Contessa asked, but this time around she found that Carmelita was only glaring at the two of them, as she had determined that they were out to end her career and had set up their own plan to get rid of her, "Very well then. Men, place Inspector Fox under arrest."
"I'll get you for this Neyla." Carmelita promised, though at the same time she struggled against the guards that had appeared behind her and grabbed onto her arms, where she felt the metallic cuffs lock around her wrists as they treated her like a common criminal, while also taking her pack and her pistol from her, "Don't think I won't."
"Such a pity when an officer falls from the light." Contessa commented, though while she said that one of her guards shot Murray with a sleep dart and knocked him out, so that way the others could drop in and cuff him, the wounded Sly, and the unconscious Rajan, so she could arrest all of them.
"Yes... indeed." Neyla said, where her tone made it sound like she had no choice but to reveal Carmelita's 'corruption', before she and the Contessa led the guards and their prisoners out of the area, so they could fulfill the paperwork and put their prisoners in jail, where they all belonged.
Bentley, Gilda, Derpy, and Diz watched as Sly, Murray, and Carmelita were cuffed before their eyes and escorted from the ruins that they had been in, now prisoners of the Contessa thanks to Neyla betraying whatever trust Sly had tried to give her, since the gang had a deal with Secretary Sen at the moment. Bentley was sure that the Secretary would want to hear the recording of the conversation that he had gotten from Carmelita's binocucom, which had been inside her pack the entire time, though he hoped the guards didn't do anything to it. The others, however, were angry that their brother, one of their friends, and Sly's love interest were being treated in such a way, where Bentley noticed that the storm seemed to come back to life in response to their power, while the tower itself seemed to stop swaying, in response to the chaotic power that was coursing through Diz's veins. Bentley knew that the three of them could easily destroy something, based on what he had seen when two of them awakened their powers in the battle with Clockwerk, though Diz seemed to be the most emotional of them... which made sense, considering that they were the first family he had known since his days in the orphanage he had been dropped at.
Having some of his family members taken from him in such a manner had awakened a similar anger that reminded Bentley of when the sisters fought Clockwerk, but fortunately Gilda and Derpy were able to calm Diz down before he did something that he might regret.
Once they were all calmed down they returned to the hideout and gathered everything that they had left behind, all of them thinking about what had happened to the others and what they were going to do to in response to this outrage, even if Secretary Sen did nothing. They all wanted to go after Neyla, since it was her fault this was even happening, but in the end Bentley stated that their first priority had to be figuring out where the others were being sent for their prison sentence and where it was located. From there they would work a plan to rescue them from their containment areas and prevent them from being harmed, and then hopefully find some evidence that would damage either the Contessa or Neyla's reputations in a way to counter what they did to Carmelita. When they managed to reach the van, exactly where they had left it, their resolve had hardened and their minds were set on saving the rest of their gang... but there was one thing they had to do before they could leave the jungle, they had to learn how to drive a stick shift.
It took Bentley and Diz some time to learn how to properly learn how to drive a stick shift, using the information that was on the internet and what they remembered Murray doing whenever he was driving the van around, before they were able to get the van out of the jungle. Once they were able to do that they headed back towards civilization and found a nice quiet place for them to wait in while Bentley sent Secretary Sen what he knew on the situation and started searching for whatever information he could find on the Contessa. While he was doing that he asked the others to try and help him out, since he didn't want them to become angry to the point where they were willing to unleash their magical energies at a moment's notice and damage something. Fortunately Gilda and Derpy attempted to help him out by using the spare computer that was in the van, but since they weren't as skilled with a computer as he was, since they had spent their time practicing their magic and thieving skills, it eventually came down to them making sure Diz didn't do something he would regret with his more potent magical powers.
After a week of searching for information, and getting some pieces from Secretary Sen as well, Bentley was able to determine that Sly and Murray were currently locked away in the mysterious towers of Prague, as the unwilling guests of the Contessa at the moment. From what Bentley was able to determine the Contessa, when she was still a criminal psychology student, entered into a whirlwind romance and married a wealthy aristocrat, though the union was short-lived, as the reports said that the general 'suspiciously' died a few weeks after the ceremony. The widowed Contessa then put her education and newly acquired estate to work by opening a criminal rehabilitation center, where, according to some of the other reports, her pioneering use of hypnotherapy had produced some good results and subsequently earned her a prominent position within Interpol. Based on the reports that Bentely found, and those that were sent over from Secretary Sen, it was easy to determine that if Sly and Murray weren't rescued sometime before the end of the week they would be lost to the gang forever... and then it was only a matter of time until the Contessa moved onto breaking Carmelita, who was likely going to be turned into a scapegoat for everything that's happened so far.
Bentley was also pleased to find that the Secretary was on their side, as he told them to move forward with whatever they had planned, because the fact that the Contessa was willing to ignore the deal that he had with the Cooper Gang, and arrest what was essentially three members of their group, had caused him to dig up some information that might actually damage the Contessa's reputation... though he stated at it would be a few days before he could announce anything, giving the four of them time to get Sly and Murray back. As such Bentley set a course for the part of Prague that the prison was located in, where the Contessa lived as it turned out, while at the same time Gilda, Derpy, and Diz flew ahead to scout out the path ahead of them, so they didn't drive into a trap. Since the Contessa had gone out of her way to go behind the orders of a Secretary, damaging her reputation if anyone was paying attention to her and Neyla at this point, they had to wonder what if the rest of Carmelita's coworkers were as corrupt as Neyla and the Contessa were, or if they didn't care about their missing coworkers and were continuing their lives as if nothing was wrong.
One other thing that Bentley and the others had noticed was that, in the brief messages that Secretary Sen had sent them, there was what appeared to be some anger in his words, indicating that he was pissed at what was happening to all of them and to Carmelita... and, based on the contents of the messages, he was digging into Interpol to see if there was anyone else that needed to be looked at more carefully.
The group put those thoughts at the back of their minds when they arrived outside the prison, where Bentley immediately found an abandoned building that they could set up shop in with an area for the van to rest while they didn't need it, though the boarded up windows would allow them to look out through the gaps and observe what was around them without revealing themselves on accident.
"So, what's our first objective?" Gilda asked, as they were all sitting around the round table that had been inside the building when they arrived, one that was large enough to sit the four of them with some room for a fifth and a sixth person, but she had the feeling that they'd be gone once Sly and Murray were free.
"One of you will join me as I make my way over to the Contessa's house," Bentley explained, to which he noticed that all three of them were raising their eyebrows at him, but it was a look of curiosity and interest, which was what he was hoping for when he revealed what the first steps of their operation was, "I'm hoping to pick up some information on where the Contessa has locked away Sly and Murray, so I can plan a proper course of action for us to take."
Gilda, Derpy, and Diz stared at each other for a few seconds, to see what the others were thinking at the moment, before they came to the decision that Derpy would be the one to follow Bentley for now, leaving Gilda and Diz to remain at the hideout. It was better in the long run, because Gilda was the one that was able to calm Diz down when he was angry and prevent him from using his powers to exact his revenge against the guards in the area, but the moment the decision was reached Bentley started to head out to begin his mission. As he and Derpy walked out onto the street that was outside their hideout, however, they noticed that the Contessa's guards consisted of bats guards, whose wings replaced most of their arms and hands while making it impossible for them to fly through the air, wolf guards, and vulture guards, which didn't have hands and were larger than the other two types of guards in the area. Derpy guarded Bentley as he made his way over to where the Contessa's house was located, knocking out the guards that happened to be around them so they wouldn't be spotted, while at the same time making note of where several clue bottles were located so they could rob the Contessa's vault before they left the area.
When they reached the Contessa's house, with was two stories and an attic, they used the exterior ramp to reach the top and then climbed up the other side of the ramp to get to the very top of the building, allowing them to use a bouncy spider web to reach a satellite dish that was above the house... though when they reached the top of the building Bentley nodded for a few seconds, indicating that they were in the correct area, where Derpy spotted the Contessa moving up the exterior of the prison.
"Aha! The Contessa is out making her rounds." Bentley commented, though at the same time he fiddled with his darts for a few seconds, where he seemed to remember something as he touched the feathers and heard a sound from the dish they were standing above, "Wait a second... the feathers on my sleep darts vibrate near sounds!"
"That's interesting," Derpy said, as she had no idea that Bentley's darts even did something like that, because he had actually never explained any potential side effects of the feathers that were attached to his darts, "but how is that going to help us figure out where Sly and Murray are located?"
"If we maintain our position on top of this parabolic dish, we should be able to hear that frequency at a distance." Bentley explained, gesturing to the dish that they were standing on, to which Derpy glanced down at it for a moment, before he raised his crossbow and aimed at the prison, "This is good news! If I tag the Contessa with my darts we should be able to listen in on whatever she says... and we might even learn where she's locked up Sly and Murray!"
Derpy's eyes lit up as she heard that fact, as that was the reason they had come out here in the first place, to which she nodded her head and stood to the side, where Bentley readied himself as he waited for the Contessa to settle down somewhere on the top of the wall she was walking on. When the Contessa finally came to a stop, however, Bentley aimed at a location near the warden and loosed a dart through the air, where they struck the walls around his target without alerting her to their presence, even though she should have been able to see them from where she was standing.
"The Klaww Gang is falling apart." Contessa said, apparently not caring about what she said at the moment, as if she believed that she was actually alone at the moment, while at the same time Bentley made sure to record everything that she said before he decided he had enough information, "Spice shipments have all but stopped... argh! I never would have joined if I'd know it would be this easy to disrupt the plan. At least the Cooper Gang is under lock and key... their lopsided morality flies in the face of man's inherent selfishness. Ah well... they'll see it my way soon enough."
Derpy knew that this was an interesting piece of information, as the Contessa confessed to being a member of the Klaww Gang, giving them another reason to take her out since she likely had a piece of Clockwerk somewhere, before Bentley nocked another dart and prepared himself... to which he fired the dart through the air and struck another part of the prison when his target stopped moving.
"Those fools at Interpol. They keep sending me criminals and I keep making money." Contessa commented, her tone shifting to a mocking one, indicating that she believed everyone at Interpol was either ignorant or outright foolish, while also revealing something to the duo, "How come no one ever thought of this before? Hypnotize criminals and force them to reveal where they've hidden their fortune... I'm a genius! If only I had more spice to help me with the hypnosis!"
This time around Derpy growled, as now that they knew that the Contessa was actually a member of the Klaww Gang, and had been tricking everyone around her, the revelation of what she was doing made her angry, though she had to take a few deep breaths and calm herself down, so she didn't call the lightning to the area... but when she was ready she nodded to Bentley and he loosed another dart through the air, allowing them to hear more of what the Contessa was saying at the moment.
"That blasted Cooper Gang." Contessa exclaimed, her tone once again shifting from what it had been a few seconds ago, becoming a little angry when she thought about the gang that was stopping the Klaww Gang, or more like the members she had caught so far, "The fat one... what's his name? Murray, yes, Murray, he'll be the first to break. I should spend a few sessions probing that feeble mind, I can only imagine the wealth that gang has accumulated over the years."
Derpy and Bentley had to resist the urge to chuckle at that, because while it was true that they had a decent fortune to their names it wasn't something that would easily be revealed to someone like the Contessa, especially after all the techniques that they read from the Thievius Racoonus... though when Bentley was ready he loosed another dart and hoped that the next bit of information was on Sly.
"That Sly Cooper... such a complex and rebellious mind." Contessa commented, her tone shifting to one that revealed that she had an interest in the leader of the Cooper Gang, or more like his mind and not the person that it belonged to, which annoyed them a little more, "A month or two in "the hole" should break his spirit. Let him squat there... week after week... he's already seen the guards along the wall all have motion detectors,... there is no escape. Slowly the reality of his captivity will set in... and I'll get to work on his mind. And then, once I've broken Sly, I'll head back to the castle and take my time breaking Carmelita until she's nothing more than a shell of her former self... and maybe make Neyla's claims true while I'm at it."
"I... I don't believe it!" Bentley said, his voice filled with anger, as he couldn't believe what he had heard the Contessa say, though at the same time he was happy to have recorded everything so he could send it to Secretary Sen so he would know that Carmelita had been set up, "She's no health care professional. Why, that's the most heinous crime I've ever heard of! Putting inmates into hypnosis so they'll tell her where they've stashed their loot."
"It dishonors both law enforcement and thieves at the same time!" Gilda growled, her voice echoing over their binocucoms for a few seconds, revealing that she and Diz had likely been listening in to what the Contessa had said while Bentley was gaining the information they received, "Bentley, can you figure out a way to break Sly out of 'The Hole'?"
"Yeah, I think I have a few ideas to get Sly free," Bentley replied, to which he glanced down at the train tracks that were nearby and spotted the single car train as it moved through the area, before focusing on the terminal that was at the end of the line, "Derpy, I'm fairly sure that the computer that is near us is the last in the line for the train, so do you mind following the track for a few minutes and count how many of them there actually are?"
Derpy raised an eyebrow for a moment before nodding her head, to which she flapped her wings and took off, leaving Bentley to pull out the small computer that he carried with him and tapped it a few times, studying the tracks that were around the area as he thought about what he could do to save Sly. At the same time he accessed the information on the area that Secretary Sen had sent him, to assist him and the gang in their mission, and discovered that the guards the Contessa had been talking about, the motion sensor ones, had only seven members, though they appeared to be standing in areas where he could use his RC-Chopper to take care of them. Based on what he was seeing at the moment, and what he could figure out by staring at the train and it's tracks, he knew what the next step they needed to do was, though he patiently waited for Derpy to get back before he started moving... and, at the same thing, he noticed a tank patrolling the area and made a note of it for later.
"I spotted six terminals." Derpy said, to which she landed beside Bentley and folded her wings back into where she kept them when she was just sneaking around the area, before she turned towards her friend, "So, what's the plan or freeing Sly and Murray?"
Bentley, instead of saying anything, beckoned for Derpy to follow as he packed his stuff up and started moving, to which they retraced their steps back towards the hideout, where Derpy spotted what was apparently the first computer terminal in the sequence that he needed to fiddle with... and, as they arrived at the terminal, the two of them found Gilda and Diz waiting for them by the computer.
"That computer is part of a control system for the electromagnetic train." Bentley stated, deciding to answer Derpy's question while also explaining the next task to the others, before pointing at the train as it moved by where the four of them were standing, "By hacking all the terminals around the train tracks I should be able to reverse their polarity, thereby turning the train into a giant projectile. Without question, its impact on the prison walls should create a hole large enough for Sly to escape through."
"And you want the three of us to take out any guards that might get near you?" Diz asked, as he was sure that once Bentley started hacking into the terminal it was going to set off an alarm, if the ones they had spotted in Rajan's palace were anything to go by.
"I would appreciate not being interrupted." Bentley said, confirming what he wanted the three of them to do, despite the fact that he originally thought that only one of them would be here to assist him, but he felt better with everyone assisting him on this mission.
Gilda, Derpy, and Diz found that the Contessa was smarter than Rajan and Dimitri, as the moment Bentley started hacking into the first computer terminal a few guards charged at them, in an attempt to shut them down, but fortunately the three of them were ready for an attack and knocked out the guards that decided to come their way. The unfortunate thing about this scenario was that their enemy was going to know that they were present and likely plan something to take them all out, so she could lock the entire gang up. The good news was that the first terminal was easy, meant to lure him into a false sense of security, though once he had finished hacking into it the group followed the train tracks as they started to head back to the Contessa's house, before Bentley stopped and crossed the tracks as he spotted the second of the six terminals. Like the last time several guards started moving towards the area that the four of them were in, to which Gilda, Derpy, and Diz engaged them and prevented them from hurting Bentley, who was engrossed with his hacking session at the moment.
Once the second terminal was taken down the group headed towards the tunnel that was nearby and found the third computer waiting for them, where the larger group of enemies engaged them when he accessed the controls, which the trio was than willing to take on, especially since all of them were annoyed in one form or another. The instant Bentley was finished with the terminal they waited for the train, which was moving faster than it had originally been when they started this mission, to pass by before heading down the tracks, where they arrived at the next terminal. Gilda, Derpy, and Diz used their wings to fly up to the area above the terminal, to which all three of them kept watch for enemies that might come for Bentley, though this time they found that the guards didn't want to bother with stopping him this time, allowing them to rest for a minute or two before Bentley started to move. The fifth and sixth terminals were right outside the Contessa's house, which happened to be guarded by the same tank Bentley had spotted earlier, though Diz surprised them by applying the invisibility trick he pulled back when Secretary Sen first revealed his existence to them... shielding them from the tank's searchlights while Bentley hacked into the fifth terminal, and then into the sixth one.
When the final terminal had been hacked into, and Bentley proclaimed his victory, the train was derailed and was launched into the air, where Derpy, Gilda, and Diz flew up into the air once Bentley was safe and discovered that the train had slammed into the side of the area that Sly was supposed to be house in.
"Yes!" Diz exclaimed, making sure to keep his voice loud enough so Gilda and Derpy could hear him, while also keeping it low enough to avoid the guards from hearing him, while at the same time he glanced at the hole in the wall that would allow Sly to escape his cell, "Hey Bentley, there's a hole in the prison wall. Do you have any ideas on how we're going to get rid of the guards so Sly can make his escape?"
"Yes, I'm going to take them out with my RC-Chopper." Bentley replied, revealing that he had created the plan he needed to use to get Sly out of the prison, though at the same time he addressed one of the magic users, "Gilda, while I'm moving through the air those guards are going to start firing at my RC-Chopper, so maybe you can lend me your power over the air for a few seconds and force the guards to constantly move. It'll help prevent them from destroying my RC-Chopper and allow us to get Sly out of his cell all that much faster."
The trio nodded and followed Bentley over the bridge, where he set up shop on the other side of the bridge and prepared himself, while at the same time Diz flew back to the hideout and returned to him with the RC-Chopper, as it was a requirement for this mission. Once the small device was ready to go Bentley engaged the controls and took to the skies, though as he did that Gilda wove her power through the air and focused on moving the guards so they wouldn't be able to focus on Bentley's vehicle. She did, however, stop the guards for a split second two times, as the vulture guards required two powerful hits to be knocked out, and Bentley bombed them, knocking them onto their backs and destroyed the motion tracking devices that the Contessa had mentioned in her rambling earlier. It took them a few minutes to take out the guards that Bentley wanted to take out, as some of them had been hiding under cover and didn't notice what was going on until they moved out... right into the waiting arms of Gilda's wind and Bentley's bombs, where Bentley kept track of how many of them he had knocked out and how many of the motion tracking devices were destroyed.
After another moment or two he knocked out the last guard and smashed the device it was carrying, to which he recalled the RC-Chopper to their location and tapped his binocucom for a moment, as he was eager to see if Sly still had his and if he was paying attention to it.
"Sly! Can you read me!?" Bentley asked, because if Sly didn't respond immediately he knew that the guards would have heard his message and would come running, meaning he'd have to have Gilda or Derpy fly into the prison and free Sly that way.
"Bentley?!" Sly replied, to which Gilda, Derpy, and Diz breathed a sigh of relief, because despite how long the week had been, since he, Murray, and Carmelita had been taken from them, it was nice to hear his voice again, "How I've missed that sensuous voice of yours. How are the others?
"We're fine Sly," Gilda said, though at the same time all of them were smiling, as now that Sly was free they could figure out what they needed to do to save Murray, and then they could leave this area and find out where the Contessa's castle was located to save Carmelita.
"You can save the catching up for later." Bentley stated, knowing that he wanted to do the same thing, but since Sly was still in a dangerous area, and that guards were likely on their way to where the train had struck the prison, he wanted to get things moving before something happened, "Sly, according to the pictures I've seen there should be a hook above your position. Do you it?"
"Yeah, I see it." came Sly's reply, which made things simple for them, as now that Sly knew of it's existence and could simply use one of the earlier techniques he, Gilda, and Derpy had learned when they were tackling the Fiendish Five and recovering the pages of the Thievius Raccoonus.
"Right now, save for sending one of the others in to pick you up, it's your only means of escape." Bentley explained, revealing that he wasn't going to put the others at risk, especially when they didn't know if there were any additional guards coming to investigate the noise, "Just latch onto it with your cane, swing onto the back of the train, and make your way outside the prison. We've already established a safe house and I have downloaded its GPS coordinates into your binocucom... we'll rendezvous there."
Sly said nothing as the connection between them was cut off for a moment, to which Bentley, Derpy, Gilda, and Diz headed back to the hideout, though as they walked through the streets that were in front of them they all spotted Sly as he ran over the back of the train and left the prison behind. From there Sly dropped down to the road that was beneath him and ran over to where they were walking, to which everyone embraced him the moment he caught up with them, as it was good for all of them to be together again. Bentley opened the door to the hideout and ushered everyone inside, just in case the guards decided to investigate the streets outside the prison for Sly, which he assumed the Contessa would order them to do, but for now they got something for Sly to eat, as they were sure that whatever the warden had been giving him was barely enough to keep him going in an attempt to tear his defenses down. Of course when Sly was done Bentley would explain the next stage of their plan, to save Murray from the same fate that the other criminals suffered, once he finished studying the information Secretary Sen had sent them.
When Sly was ready to go, and the others had calmed down from the excitement of having him back, Bentley started to explain the situation to them, revealing that he had done some deep database crunching and studied the information their powerful ally had given them. From those two sources he was able to determine that Murray was doing time in Cell Block D, though getting him out of that area was going to be tough, especially since he wasn't very light on his feet. Of course he had a plan to save him, where they needed Sly to head back into the prison, by an access pipe, to convince Murray to get himself into an isolation cell and away from the other inmates. The second task he had for them was for Sly and the others to get a sample of the Contessa's encryption algorithm, while at the same time stating that he'd explain what he was talking about later. The third task was for someone to pickpocket a few keys from the Contessa when she was making her rounds around the prison and her house, why he'd explain later as well, while also warning them to watch out for her pack of bodyguards.
The fourth, and final, task he had planned was for Gilda and Derpy to channel their powers into the brewing storm and call down their wrath to destroy the giant attack robot that's inside the prison... and then he went out of his way to say that he wasn't kidding, as some of the reports he had browsed through earlier claimed that the Contessa definitely had something like that in the prison.
With their missions revealed to them, however, the first thing that Sly, Gilda, Derpy, and Diz did was explore the streets and the prison for the clue bottles that rested around the area, so they could use whatever was in the Contessa's vault against her and her forces. Since three of them could fly, and reach some areas faster, Sly divided the area around the prison up and said that they should meet by the bridge outside the Contessa's house, so when they had all the bottles Bentley could tell them where the vault was located. Bentley, who was staying behind at the hideout for the moment, stated that Sly's plan was a good one, as with all four of them moving they'd be able to grab every bottle in record time and not cut into the time they had for the operation. What surprised Sly, however, was that Bentley was able to determine that the vault in question was hidden somewhere inside the Contessa's house, so while he finished his area he studied the house and found a small passage that would allow someone to head under the wall and enter the hidden area that the vault had to be inside.
When all the bottles had been recovered, and the others regrouped with him, Sly slipped into the opening for a moment, found the room that the vault was located inside, and input the code that Bentley had sent him, 2-4-8 as it turned out, and soon he was walking away with some notes on how to increase one's ability to throw things... meaning that he and Bentley, and maybe the others, could throw things further than normal.
With the treasure of the vault in hand, and he returned to the others, the four of them headed back towards the hideout, though as they headed down the street they all picked the pockets of the guards, adding whatever coins and loot they had on them at the moment. Of course Derpy and Gilda revealed that, during their hunt for the clue bottles, they had also stolen all of the more expensive treasures that the Contessa had scattered around her base of operations, adding to their stash of treasures and the coins that they had, to which Sly grinned the moment he heard that. He was impressed that they had been able to do that, while searching for the clue bottles, and he was amazed that Diz had gotten the twenty pieces of loot he had gotten. Once he got over his amazement he focused on the mission at hand, to which they walked over to a boat that was near the pipe, which would allow one of them to enter the prison, before all of them pulled out their binocucoms so they could hear the instructions, even though Sly was the one that was going to be infiltrating the prison in the next few moments.
"Okay Sly, in order to get Murray out we'll need him to get thrown into solitary confinement." Bentley explained, though while he knew that the others were listening in to the conversation, to hear what Sly would be doing, he focused on who he needed to talk to at the moment, "That pipe will lead you to his cell block. Try to locate him and relate the plan... after that, it's all up to Murray."
"You know, it's strange to be sneaking into prison to tell someone to get themselves thrown into solitary confinement, only to bust them out later," Sly commented, to which he could tell that the others were nodding their heads, as it was a strange plan alright, but then he focused on what he was going to do, "but I'll head inside and tell Murray the plan."
Sly glanced at the others for a moment, seeing that they were okay with him heading into the pipe, and watched as they dispersed to several locations so they could view the area he was in, that way when he made his exit they would be waiting for him. As such he used the hooks that were in front of him and jumped on some debris to reach the pipe that Bentley wanted him to enter, to which he found that the lever to open the grate was already in the open position and smiled as he crawled inside so he could begin the search for Murray. It took him a few moments of crawling to reach the first end of the vent he had found his way into, though once he was in position he braced himself, because if this was someone else and not Murray he might set of an alarm or something and ruin this part of the plan.
"Psst! Murray!" Sly called out, keeping his voice low so that only the person that was inside the cell could hear him, though if it wasn't who he was looking for he was planning on moving along and trying out one of the other ends of the vents, "Hey Murray!"
"Huh?" a voice said, to which Murray got up off the bed he slept on and walked into the middle of the cell, where he started looking around for the source of Sly's voice, indicating that he was both curious and confused at the same time, which Sly was planning on fixing, "Sly? Where are you?"
"Over here, in the back wall!" Sly answered, keeping his voice low still, even though he was glad to see that his friend was alright, as he needed to tell him the plan and he was sure that Murray would be able to come up with an idea on how to get to the area of the prison that Bentley needed him to be inside.
"Sly! I'm so glad to see you." Murray said, moving to the vent for a moment so he could see Sly, even though it wasn't the best view in the world, but it was still better than not knowing if Sly was okay or not, "They've been forcing me to eat meals covered in spice... and I'm feeling kind of strange. You and the others gotta get me outta here!"
"No problem. Bentley seems to have found a weakness in the solitary confinement cell." Sly replied, where he was thankful that Secretary Sen seemed to believe whatever Bentley had sent him after he, Murray, and Carmelita had been captured with Rajan, which reminded him to ask Bentley something when they were together again, "If you can get in a big enough fight the guards will throw you in there... trust me, I'm speaking from experience."
"Well if you say so." Murray said, to which he raised a hand to his head and appeared to think about something for a moment, as if he was actually determining the number of guards he needed to fight, "I suppose a powerful force like 'The Murray' can take down fifty foes... if I had to."
"That's an excellent idea!" Sly stated, as he had done something similar and had been thrown into the area that the Contessa trapped him inside, though he still wasn't sure if that was because he forced her hand or if she had been planning that from the beginning, "You beat the snot out of fifty of those guys and get thrown into solitary confinement... and Bentley, the others, and I will take care of the rest."
Murray smiled as he beat his fists together and walked outside the cell that he was staying in, where the door just so happened to be wide open, and threw a fist through the air as he approached the first guard, knocking him to the side and causing him to call for backup. Wolf guards started to drop down into the area that Murray was in and charged at him, where he smashed guards against the ground, hurled them at the walls until they crumbled into heaps, used one of them as a weapon to beat up several others before knocking his weapon out, and even used the exercise equipment to hurt his opponents. Sly, who was watching from the wall still, had his binocucom out and was transmitting the fight to the others, who were silently watching Murray beat the stuffing out of the guards with nothing more than his fists, proving that numbers meant nothing to 'The Murray', especially when he eagerly fought the crowd of enemies that were all around him with a smile on his face and a look of joy in his eyes as he got to fight something again.
Eventually the fight came to an end as Murray lifted the final guard, the fiftieth guard as it turned out, and hurled him into the pile of guards that were resting near him, though the force of the throw knocked the pile apart and the guards crumpled to the ground, revealing that they couldn't take Murray's beating at all.
"50! Eat that you incarcerating suckas! Is that anti-social enough for ya?" Murray declared, beating his fists together, as if he was challenging them to sent out more guards to take care of him, to which he turned towards the ramp that was above him and spotted a vulture guard, who just so happened to lower a cage on top of him, "Oh, what? You gonna throw me in solitary?! Bring it on!"
Sly chuckled as he cut the binocucom connection off and retreated through the path he had taken to reach the cell that Murray had been forced into, as now that Murray was in solitary confinement they could really begin their work on getting everything ready to spring him. Once he was back outside the prison he regrouped with the others and inquired as to which mission they should do next, while at the same time noting that the storm that Bentley had told them about hadn't arrived yet.
"Sly, you and Diz should head to the bridge near the Contessa's house," Gilda replied, to which she jerked her thumb towards their sister, who was now staring up at the clouds, as if she was trying to summon the storm earlier than what Bentley wanted them to, "It'll give Derpy and I some time to channel our power into the storm, though once we're almost ready I'll let you know, so that way you can hear the mission briefing from Bentley."
Sly knew that they were planning on loosing a powerful lightning bolt from the sky, if what he had seen at Rajan's ruins was anything to go by, and nodded his head, to which his sisters opened their wings and took off, leaving him and Diz to start moving to the underside of the bridge, which was where the mission beacon was located. He wasn't sure why they needed to head to the bridge, as that wasn't one of the missions Bentley had told them about earlier, which told him that Bentley must have discovered something and added an additional mission to their list. Fortunately it didn't take them long to reach the beacon for the new mission, to which both Sly and Diz pulled out their binocucoms and prepared to hear what sort of mission Bentley had in mind for them.
"Sly, Diz, those giant pipes under the bridge feed power to the prison security systems." Bentley said, changing their view so they could look up at the pipes in question, which were right above their heads, before continuing what he needed to tell them, "I'll need to cut the connection to free Murray."
"Sounds like a plan, what do you need the two of us for?" Sly asked, as he could see why Bentley would need someone to watch his back, since guards were patrolling the area, he didn't see why he needed two of them for this particular mission, other than the fact that he didn't want to leave anyone out.
"You guys may not be aware of his, but the bridge is heavily guarded." Bentley replied, as if expecting that question to come up during the briefing, meaning that he already had a response to give them before the mission started, "I need the two of you to watch my back and stop any guards that they might send out to stop me."
"How about we smash some of those statues and take their place?" Sly inquired, as he could see that there were some statues of the wolf guards, lifelike yet made of solid stone, resting on both sides of the bridge, "We could pose as a statue, let the guards walk on by us, and then hit them from behind."
"Actually, there's something I want to try before we do that." Diz said, though as he spoke he flew up to the bridge and knelt in the middle of it, where he placed his hands on the stone beneath his feet and started to channel his power into the bridge as he reached for the statues.
Sly and Bentley, who had come out to do the job with his bombs, stood in the middle of the bridge and watched Diz for a few seconds, where they noticed that there appeared to be cracks forming on all of the statues that were on both sides of the bridge. Together they watched as the eyes of the statues actually snapped open, like they were alive, and slowly pulled themselves off of the pedestals they had been standing on, causing their jaws to drop as the now living statues touched the ground and walked up to Diz, where they stood and watched him. Diz silently stared at them and divided their numbers in half, where the ones that had been positioned near the Contessa's house stood guard over the entrance of that area while the others stood on the other side of the bridge. Once the living statues were in the positions he had ordered them to stand in, however, Diz also gave them a final order for when the mission was over, where the statues nodded their heads for a few seconds before he finally stopped touching the ground and swayed for a moment... causing Sly to rush forward and catch him before he hit the ground.
"Diz... what did you do?" Sly asked, as this wasn't something that he had seen Diz or his sisters do, though at the same time his sisters only seemed to have one elemental power while Diz had a more chaotic power, which was why he was curious as to what just happened.
"He gave the statues some sort of life," Bentley stated, as he realized that the energies that Diz possessed had turned ordinary statues into living constructs, ones that were no doubt fueled by his anger towards his family being taken from him, but they were also under his control, "he... he created golems!"
"And I won't be able to keep them all active for too long," Diz replied, to which she moaned for a moment, as the energy required for such a thing had been more than she was expecting and had allowed her chaotic power to flip her gender while she wasn't paying attention, though instead of getting annoyed she on the fact that there were five guarding each entrance to the bridge, meaning Bentley could work without being interrupted.
Bentley, now realizing that they were wasting time talking, jumped back down to the lower level with Sly for a few moments, where he attached a few bombs to the proper positions that they needed to be in, before they both used the bouncy spider web pad to get back to the top. When he and Sly got to the top of the bridge again they found that the Contessa's guards were already coming out to stop the assault, though at the same time they found that they were fighting the statues and were knocked out in the process. Sly, seeing that he had next to nothing to do, made himself useful by carrying the bombs that Bentley needed to plant and handed them over when he needed them, all while asking the question that had been bothering him since he escaped from his own cell.
"Hey Bentley, there's a plan for rescuing Carmelita as well, right?" Sly asked, because so far it seemed that Bentley was focused on him and Murray, which was understandable considering that they were life long friends, but Carmelita was special to him and he hadn't heard a single thing about rescuing her at all.
"Of course there's a plan to rescue Carmelita," Bentley replied, not even bothering to call her an Inspector at the moment, not when he had some unpleasant news to tell Sly in regards to what Barkley had done since they had been captured with Rajan, but decided to tell him later, when they freed Carmelita as well, "unfortunately she's not being held in this prison. According to my information she's supposed to have been shipped out to the Contessa's castle, sent out at the same time you and Murray were sent here, though I have no idea why the Contessa decided to do things this way. Once we free Murray, and we've outrun the guards, we're packing our things up and heading out for the castle, so don't you worry about her."
Of course that only made Sly worry that the Contessa had something sinister in mind for Carmelita, because since Bentley explained that the Contessa was going to try and turn both him and Murray into ordinary citizens, after stealing all the wealth the gang had collected over the years, it only made him wonder what she could do to the person he loved. Bentley seemed to sense this and said nothing else while he worked, planting the charges at the areas they needed to be in for later, while at the same time Diz's statues beat up the guards that there trying to investigate the bridge, even if one of them lost an arm in the process. When Bentley placed the final charge, and made sure that it was set up right, he called for everyone to get away from the bridge, which was followed by Diz snatching him and Sly the moment he said that and dropped them off on the area Bentley had used his RC-Chopper to help Sly escape... to which they watched as the explosives went off and damaged the bridge, destroying the object that Bentley had sought to destroy, while also taking care of Diz's statues as well, reducing them to broken piles of stone as he regained some of his energy.
"That takes care of the power to the security system." Bentley commented, though he was happy with what they had accomplished so far, even though the storm that was above their heads was really coming together, indicating that Derpy was getting closer to being ready for the mission he wanted her to take on.
"I guess it's time we head inside the prison for the next mission?" Sly asked, though at the same time he knew that Diz needed some rest from what she had done, especially since she had used a good portion of his magical energy to control ten statues like that.
"No. It appears the commotion from the fighting near the bridge has drawn the Contessa out of her house," Bentley stated, to which he pointed over to the other side of the bridge, where they spotted the warden in question investigating what had caused the noise, before he turned toward Sly for a moment, "Sly, this is a good opportunity for you to steal two tank keys and the tank control schedule, before she disappears to a location we can't get to."
"Just pickpocketing this time around?" Sly inquired, though the smile that graced his face told Bentley that he was happy for something normal, especially after they witnessed Diz give life to the statues and since it was only a matter of time until Derpy was ready to call upon the power of the storm above them, "Sure, I can get that done in no time... and Diz, if you feel up to it you can assist me if you want to."
Diz, deciding that she had spent a little too much energy, and had to get over the gender switch once more, shook her head and declined, indicating that she wanted to have some energy for the final part of the operation, to which Sly nodded and headed off towards the area that the Contessa was walking in, while Bentley helped Diz back to the hideout. What Sly quickly determined what that, since his target happened to have bodyguards with her, that he needed noise to pull the vulture guards away from the Contessa, which was all too easy for him to do. He was very careful about making any sort of noise, as he only wanted to draw the last guard in the line away from the Contessa, who was talking about things like the stormy weather, like it was actually normal and not caused by someone else, and his escape. Fortunately the first pair of guards didn't even attempt to check out the noise he made in a pair, as the first one came around and he knocked it out, before repeating that with the second bodyguard... which allowed him to sneak up on the Contessa and pick the first tank key from her pouch.
The downside to removing an item from her pouch was that she seemed to sense it and moved to a new area around the prison, though Bentley and Gilda, who was flying around the area, sent him the exact coordinates of his target and her new set of guards. Once he came upon his target again, who happened to be on the other side of the walls of the prison, he repeated the process from before, using noise to draw the guards away from the Contessa, before knocking them out and approaching the warden, allowing him to walk away with the second tank key. With the key removed the Contessa moved once more, traveling to an area right outside the hideout, though that didn't stop Sly from carefully pulling her guards away, one by one like usual, knocking them out when he got them alone, and then continuing until it was only him and her left... though when he got the third item Bentley needed, the tank patrol schedule, which prompted the Contessa to leave once she noticed it was missing, and declared that her guards were going to be fired soon enough.
With those items dropped off at the hideout, so Bentley could keep track of them for the operation, Sly carefully made his way back into the prison, using the same path he had used earlier when he was following after the Contessa, before he reached the mission beacon and pulled out his bonocucom... where Bentley had him stare at the water tower that was at the heart of this particular mission and was the reason that Derpy was gathering a storm above their heads.
"Okay Sly, that's it!" Bentley stated, indicating that the water tower was what he should be looking at, which Sly was doing while he wondered what sort of plan he had to accomplish, though he also knew that Bentley was going to explain the entire thing to him, "The Contessa's giant attack robot!"
"Look, Bentley, I know that we occasionally deal with people like Gilda and Derpy," Sly said, to which his focus remained on the water tower, while both of his sisters were focusing their efforts on manipulating the storm, "but with all due respect it looks an awful lot like a water tower."
"That's what the Contessa wants you, and everyone else, to think." Bentley replied, though his tone didn't say that he was mad at Sly, rather he understood what he was thinking about and had thought about it himself at one point, "If we try to free Murray while that thing's operational... well, it would interfere with our plans."
"I'll take your word for it." Sly said, to which he looked up at Gilda and Derpy for a moment, as he was curious as to what he could do to assist them in dealing with the 'attack robot' that Bentley wanted them to destroy, "So, what can I do to help Gilda and Derpy out?"
"The lightning rods around the prison are designed to draw lightning strikes away from the target." Bentley answered, where Sly noticed that Bentley didn't say either water tower or giant attack robot, indicating that he didn't want to spend time determining what it was, "By turning the wheels on the rod you should be able to redirect the electrical current away from its ground wire, thus rendering it useless. Diz will get the ones outside the prison, allowing you to focus on the ones around Gilda and Derpy... and then, once they're all turned, you'll have to tell Derpy that it's time."
Sly found that of the five lightning rods, as Bentley stated that there were five of them as he and Diz started moving towards their target, three of them were located around the prison and that one was near his immediate area, allowing him to turn the wheels and cause a stray red bolt of lightning to damage the rod once he was clear. As he moved over the walls of the prison he spotted Diz carefully moving through the air, where Derpy seemed to be keeping the lightning under control until it was needed, before he damaged the second lightning rod. Sly then made his way to the next rod he needed to take care of and a few moments later he was walking away from it, where the lightning damaged it as well and would increase the overall damage Derpy could cause to the target. Diz and Sly then turned the wheels on the fourth and fifth lightning rods at the same time, moving away from them and let the lightning damage them to the point where they wouldn't be able to work anymore... to which Sly headed back to where Gilda and Derpy were floating, near the very first lightning rod that he had taken out.
"Gilda! Derpy!" Sly called out, not knowing if they were even listening to him or anyone else that might come and speak with them, but he continued anyway and waited to see what happened, especially since the lightning was the only thing that would destroy their target, "The lightning rods are down!"
Derpy turned towards him for a moment, indicating that she had heard his statement, before she lifted her hand towards the sky and the storm responded, as the lightning flashed several times in the course of a few seconds and seemed to be gathering in a single point, readying itself for what Derpy wanted to do. A few seconds later Derpy swung her hand towards the target and the red bolt of lightning, whether it was red from her anger or from the storm itself Sly had no idea, surged towards the ground and barreled into the disguised robot. The lightning coursed over the metallic body and the robot revealed itself, as it's eyes opened as it shuddered for a few moments, though that was before it crumbled into a heap and stopped moving, indicating that the damage it suffered meant it wasn't going to be of any use to the Contessa in the near future.
Once the lightning had done it's job, and the attack robot was out of commission, Derpy and Gilda released their grip on the storm that was above them and let the sky slowly return to normal, while at the same time they landed beside Sly, as there was one last mission they had to do and then they could save Murray... and then they could leave this area and head to the Contessa's castle, so they could rescue Carmelita from whatever foul torment she was facing.
Sly, Gilda, and Derpy quickly made their way down to the building that was in front of where the first lightning rod was located, as the last mission beacon was on the lower section of the roof that was below them, but fortunately the guards didn't seem to mind the fact that a powerful looking bolt of lightning struck someplace in the prison. That was something that always surprised Sly, that the guards assumed that anything that was associated with lightning came from the storms and not from something, or rather someone, else. Even the Contessa knew that both Gilda and Derpy had elemental powers, especially since Carmelita had told her superiors about their powers, but right now it appeared that she had completely forgotten that fact and was blaming the actual weather, which was perfectly fine with them at the moment. If their foe wanted to be ignorant and ignore what was going on in the area around her prison, then Sly was sure that Bentley would use that to their advantage.
Thinking of Bentley caused Sly to chuckle and pull out his binocucom, to which both he and his sisters stared at the area around them, though a few seconds later they zeroed in one a rectangular screen that was across the road and the lock that was attached to it.
"Sly, before you, Gilda, and Derpy return to the hideout I need your help getting a handle on the Contessa's encryption algorithm." Bentley stated, reminding them of the one mission he very briefly talked about and said that he would explain it to them when it came time for them to do this one.
"We'd love to Bentley," Sly said, where he pulled down his binocucom for a moment and noticed that both Gilda and Derpy were as confused as he was, to which he sighed before he glanced back at the rectangular screen, "but we have no idea what you're talking about."
"Alright, I'll explain it to you one piece at a time. See that security station?" Bentley inquired, making sure that all three of them were staring at the screen in question, meaning it was important and that they should know about it for this particular mission, "The guard nearby is responsible for its upkeep."
"Okay, that sounds reasonable." Derpy spoke up, to which she glanced over at the guard in question, who happened to have his back turned towards the security station and he happened to have a blue glowing pocket, the same one that they would pickpocket key items from.
"First, I'll need one of you to pickpocket his key to the terminal." Bentley stated, where he changed their binocucoms to look over at the guard, in the off chance that some of them weren't actually looking at the guard that Derpy had her eye on at the moment.
"That shouldn't be a problem." Gilda replied, because she knew that, as thieves, the three of them had the skills to pick pockets without getting caught, so being told that they needed to take a key that the nearby guard was carrying was something they could easily do.
"Then I need you to use it on the security station to set off the alarm." Bentley said, though he knew that this particular statement would cause them to think he was mad or something, but at the same time he would explain himself so that they would understand why he wanted them to do this.
"Hold up, you want us to set off the alarm?" Sly asked, because while he knew that there had to be a reason for them doing this, and he was sure that Bentley would explain everything, he still found the act of setting off an alarm on purpose to be against what thieves were supposed to do.
"Yeah, set it off then clear out as the guard's sure to come running." Bentley answered, which made sense to the siblings when they thought about it, but this time they said nothing as they waited to see what else Bentley had to tell them about this mission, "Once he sees that it's a false alarm, he'll input the code to turn it off."
"So you want us to take a picture of the code?" Derpy asked, because now she was starting to see the bigger picture of the mission, though part of her wondered why Bentley didn't just spend a few minutes explaining this before they left the hideout earlier.
"One of you should stay in a safe place, so you can get a clean shot of that digital readout." Bentley said, revealing that two of them were going to have to deal with the guards, or at least pick their pockets for the keys, while the other watched over the security station so they got the code the moment it was entered.
"Should we hit all the security stations out here?" Sly asked, because if Bentley wanted only one then they would be able to do this mission in record time, especially since Derpy was more tired than Gilda was, but at the same time he knew what Bentley's response was going to be.
"That's right," Bentley said, confirming Sly's thoughts on what they needed to do, even though he had been about to say the same thing himself, which made him happy that they were learning what needed to be done on the missions that he was sending them on, "once I've got a large enough sample of the Contessa's codes I should be able to crack her encryption algorithm."
Sly, deciding not to annoy Bentley by asking about the encryption algorithm again, simply lowered his binocucom and had both Gilda and Derpy stay on the roof that they were all standing on, since it had the best view of the first security station, before he jumped down to the road below them. Fortunately it only took him a few seconds to approach the vulture guard and pick his pocket, as the key was the only thing he had been carrying on him, before Sly headed back towards the security station. The moment he reached his target, and had avoided the spotlights at the same time, he slipped the key into the lock and got rid of it, before he tapped a button and the alarm started to sound, to which e retreated to the roof that his sisters were on and watched as the guard he had taken the key from started to make his way over to the security station. A few seconds later the guard input the code and the alarm was silenced, though that was when Derpy, who had her binocucom resting on the security station, snapped a picture of the first code and smiled as they pocketed the information Bentley needed.
Once that was done Gilda grabbed into Sly and took off into the sky, heading towards a beacon that was near the bridge they had damaged earlier, with Derpy following after them, where they found another vulture guard patrolling the area near the security station he was supposed to be tending to. Derpy, of course, landed somewhere that gave her a good view of the screen the code would be shown on, allowing Sly and Gilda to carefully pick the key from the guard's pocket before setting off the alarm. Just like the last time the guard made his way to the security station and seemed annoyed when he noticed that it was a false alarm, to which he input the code and turned the alarm off, allowing Derpy to snap a picture of the second code. The third security station was located on the backside of the Contessa's house, where Sly and Gilda hunted down the guard that had the key while Derpy set herself up where she could take the best picture of the code... though not a minute later they were heading away from the house with the code in hand, with an annoyed guard left to patrol the building.
The final security station happened to be located near the hideout, though this time around the three of them had to distract the guard that was standing right in front of the terminal they needed to use, which in turn allowed Sly to pick the key from his pocket before activating the alarm... though that allowed Derpy to take the picture of the final code, before the three of them headed back to the hideout to see what Bentley had planned for their operation.
Once Sly, Gilda, and Derpy returned to the hideout, and head rested a little, Bentley stated that they were ready to rescue Murray from the area of the prison that Sly had told him he needed to be thrown into, which he did with some joy as he knocked out the guards around him. Bentley informed them that the first step of the plan was simple, that they use the Contessa's keys to steal one of her tanks, at which point he would jump in and drive it towards the gate while Sly kept out of sight by crawling underneath it, leaving Gilda, Derpy, and Diz to wait for the signal. He was hoping that the guards won't notice anything out of the ordinary and open the prison gates for him, which would allow him to casually roll into the prison and blast open the security doors to Murray's cell block. Once that was done they would all head inside the cell block, where Sly and the others would need to improvise their way up to the guard control center and open the doors leading down to solitary confinement. Bentley was also hoping that Murray hadn't cracked under the Contessa's hypnosis, even though he had faith in Murray's abilities, but he did have something in mind for when they reached that part of the prison... which he planned on revealing once they reached that part of the prison.
The moment he was finished explaining the operation, and the group was ready to move forward, Bentley headed out with Diz as his backup, even if he knew that the guards wouldn't be able to get at him until he was already in the tank and they were moving towards the prison's front door.
"Okay Sly, Diz and I are heading out for the tank." Bentley said, letting Sly know that they were moving out, so that way he, Gilda, and Derpy could get into position for when they had to move as well, before nodding to Diz and started the short journey towards the tank.
Sure enough Bentley's prediction that there were guards in their way came true, as Diz moved forward and knocked out the vulture guard that was in Bentley's way, before finding the tank in question and carefully did the same thing to the wolf guards that were in front of it... allowing Bentley to climb into the tank, where he immediately started to fiddle with the controls for a few moments.
"I'm inside the tank..." Bentley commented, to which Diz and the others, who were standing on a nearby roof, watched as the tank shifted a little and raised up a little, creating an area for someone to crawl under the vehicle, "increasing the ride height on the treads. There, that should give you enough room Sly. Crawl underneath this thing and let's get moving."
Sly nodded his head, even though Bentley couldn't see him do so, and left his sisters behind on the roof of the building they were standing on, to which he headed over to where the tank was located and crawled underneath it, where he tapped his communicator to let Bentley know that he was ready. A few seconds later Bentley started moving the tank towards the ramp that would take him right to the entrance of the prison, though at the same time Sly moved at the same time and keep up with the tank's movements. It didn't take them long to reach the main entrance, where the guards simply opened the gate for them and let them head inside the prison, causing Bentley to chuckle a little as he maneuvered the vehicle into position in front of the door to Murray's cell block. Once the tank was positioned in the right spot, and he was sure that it was, Bentley had Sly move out from under the tank and move to a safe distance, where he loosed a shot at the door the moment Sly indicated that he was clear... blowing open the door and allowing them to enter the part of the prison that Murray was in.
The moment the door was open Gilda, Derpy, and Diz quickly flew over to where they were standing and followed Sly inside the cell block, as Bentley insisted on remaining behind to sabotage the tank, that way no one would be able to use it against them when they made their escape... to which they entered the hallway that would take them right to an elevator, one that brought them down into the area that Murray had been sentenced to before he got into the massive fight earlier.
"Okay Bentley, we're inside," Sly commented, though as the four of them gathered in front of the elevator door, after having rode it down to the level they were on, he wondered what they were going to do next, as that part of the operation hadn't been explained, "what's next?"
"Well, that should be the guards' control center," Bentley said, to which he stepped out of the elevator and stopped when he was behind them, while at the same time he was staring up at their target, "but to be honest I'm not sure how you're going to get up there... not without flying anyway."
"Then that's what we'll do." Diz said, to which she flapped her wings for a moment, though even as she did so she was a little annoyed that the chaotic energies hadn't let her revert back to her original form yet, where she simply sighed and focused on the mission.
Despite the fact that there were a few spotlights that were still operational, something that hadn't been in all of the blueprints that they had received from Secretary Sen, indicating that the Contessa also withheld information from those she was pretending to work with, Gilda, Derpy, and Diz flew up to the top of the control center and dropped Sly off. From there it was a simple matter for Sly to drop down into the room and knock out the lone guard before he could do anything to him, allowing him to input Bentley's algorithmic code decryptor. At the same time, however, Gilda, Derpy, and Diz flew around the area of the prison that they had access to and knocked out all of the guards that were in the area, as the last thing they wanted was for someone to discover their plans and ruin them before they could free Murray or even make their escape... especially since there was no telling when the Contessa would arrive to check up on their friend, or the other inmates that were in the other cell blocks.
"Hey Bentley, do you see anything happening down there?" Sly asked, because while it was a good thing that the others were knocking the guards out, thus making the departure easier for them, he wanted to get the show on the road before the Contessa arrived, as he wanted to scare her into fleeing to where Carmelita was being held against her will.
"Success!" Bentley declared, to which the gate that he was standing in front of opened before his eyes, causing him to smile as he ran up the stairs and took a new position on the other side, where he could wait for the others to join him before they made a move for Murray, "We've got access to solitary confinement!"
"Hot stuff, I'm heading down." Sly said, though as he made his way down to the floor he spotted the others knocking out the rest of the guards, before they joined him and headed through the raised gate that Bentley had been standing near, who was happy to see all of them.
When the five of them entered the area that Murray was supposed to be located in they discovered a strange sight, Murray was standing in the middle of an unusual chamber and seemed to be twitching and swatting at the air for some reason, causing them all to worry about their friend for a few moments.
"Hmm, that looks bad. I've never seen Murray like this." Bentley commented, though this wasn't a good thing for them, as now they had to find a way to get their friend out of this state and fast, before the Contessa arrived and ruined everything they had planned.
"He's all twitchy and bug-eyed." Diz said, as it hurt to see their friend acting so weird, especially since there was no telling whether or not the Contessa had started her hypnosis sessions with him, but it only made her want to beat the stuffing out of the spider for what she had done so far.
"Sly, you said that Murray was being forced to eat spice right?" Bentley asked, recalling something that had been said when Murray spoke to Sly when he was inside the prison vents earlier, which could prove to be useful in the situation that they found themselves in.
"Yeah, he said he was feeling 'weird'." Sly answered, though he wasn't sure where Bentley was going with his question, but something told him that his friend had already figured out a way to get Murray out of the state that he was in and also get him out of the cell that he was trapped inside.
"Well, he's weirded out alright. I doubt he even knows we're here." Bentley stated, as the opening of the gate didn't cause Murray to turn towards them, like he usually would have, and their voices didn't seem to have any effect either, which left them with one choice, "Clearly, we're going to have to lure out of that cell the hard way. Those hypno-boxes are designed to heighten the effects of spice... and he's already in an agitated state. So if we were to turn them all on at the same time Murray's sure to become wildly hostile and probably break down the door."
"It looks like the power switches for the hypno-boxes are all defended by laser barriers." Gilda pointed out, though at the same time she smiled for a moment, because when she counted them she spotted three of them, but her smile was more for the fact that Bentley could likely get through the protection with ease, "Bentley, when we get close you'll have to hack the laser system from that terminal... that should give us access to the switches."
Bentley nodded as Sly stood beside him, mostly in case some guards opened the gate they had walked through, leaving Gilda, Derpy, and Diz to fly over to the three guarded power switches and wait for the laser barriers to go down, which was all up to Bentley's hacking. Sly watched as the laser barriers went down in a timely fashion, allowing the others to turn on the hypno-boxes and increase the rage and anger that Murray was feeling at the moment, causing him to shout at the anger in an attempt to drive it away. When the second hypno-box was activated Murray started to sing a very short version of the 'Little Teapot', but that quickly changed as parts of the verse were changed as his rage took over again, making it sound like an angry teapot this time around. When the third was activated Murray went crazy with rage and charged out of the cell he had been kept inside since Sly convinced him to beat up those guards, though as that happened Sly knew exactly what to do... he needed to break the hypno-boxes, which he was sure that his cane couldn't handle, so he used the other weapon at his disposal, Murray's charge attacks.
As such Sly carefully maneuvered himself around the chamber that they were in, making sure that one of the four hypno-boxes were in between him and Murray at all times, where he smiled whenever Murray charged forward and smashed one of the devices to pieces... though when all of the hypno-boxes had been destroyed Murray staggered to the middle of the chamber and the others gathered around him.
"Uhh, my head." Murray complained, indicating that ramming into the hypno-boxes had hurt more than Sly was originally expecting, but he was happy to see that Murray was coming to, and he wasn't the only one that was happy to be reunited with him, "Who? What? Is this heaven?"
"Sorry pal... you're no angel." Sly said, though at the same time he patted Murray on the shoulder, as it was good to have him back, especially now that there was only one member of the gang that they needed to rescue, one who was likely in a more dangerous situation than what he and Murray had been in.
"Murray, just take a few deep breathes and try to center your thoughts." Bentley instructed, remembering what Gilda, Derpy, and Diz had learned how to do back when they were learning magic from Mz. Ruby, back during the first couple of days of their training.
"Okay." Murray said, though as he tried to do that, and found all of his friends standing beside him once more, he noticed something odd that wasn't what he remembered, especially when he considered who the person was and what had happened the first time this happened, "Diz, how did you..."
"Chaos energy." Diz replied, as that was her excuse for when this sort of thing happened to her, because while she could easily snap her fingers and revert back to her male form, which she preferred to be in most the time, her powers tended to make her return to the opposite form a few minutes later... meaning that if she let her powers run their course she'd be back to normal in no time.
"What's with all the racket!? My conscious mind is a wreck. I ...ought to..." a voice said, to which Gilda, Derpy, and Diz turned and looked at the other entrance to the chamber they were in, where they spotted the Contessa standing on the other side of the gate, staring at them with some shock in her eyes, "the weak-minded Hippo is free, and he's got friends! Perhaps it's time to reevaluate some life choices."
"I don't know how I managed it, but I was able to keep this half of the Clockwerk Heart safe." Murray said, to which he carefully extracted the half of the Clockwerk Heart from his own pack, which he couldn't believe the guards didn't search when he and the others were captured, "It was hard to hide from the Con... the Contessa! She's getting away!"
Sly didn't even need to say anything as Murray handed him the half of the Clockwerk Heart that he had been holding onto and charged at the gate in front of them, where he latched onto the crank bar that was in front of him, to which he heaved with all of his might and moved the bar until it was all the way at the top. He then moved to the other side of the gate and did the same thing to the second crank bar, lifting it into position and opening the way for them to move forward, allowing them to charge through the pathway that the Contessa had used. A few moments later they pushed their way out onto the upper walkway of the prison and stood there for a moment, as the Contessa was standing near them, apparently having waited just long enough to see them come outside the cell block.
"You lousy no good head shrinker!" Murray declared, to which he pointed a finger at the Contessa, because right now he wanted nothing more than to hurt her for all the pain she had caused him and Sly, and not to mention Carmelita, wherever she was located, since they were captured earlier.
"Oh come now Murray, we were making such progress during our sessions." Contessa said, as if she was trying to play him or something, which only made the rest of the gang angry, because she should have known that she was losing and should have surrendered because of their sheer numbers.
"The only mental help I need is to forget about you," Murray stated, as he really wanted to put everything that happened lately in the past, where he would never have to remember it, and he was sure that some of the others felt the same way at the moment, "and I'll start by throwing you in jail!"
"Such displaced hostility." Contessa replied, though the way she spoke so far made the gang think that she was talking to a child, which was something that Murray wasn't, "If you insist on getting angry why not be psychologically productive and channel it at your so-called friends?"
"I'm done talking with my mouth!" Murray shouted, because now the Contessa was asking for it, because he wasn't about to turn his back on his friends and beat them up, not after everything they had been through since they met each other all those years ago, "Now I talk with my fists!!"
"Sorry, but our time is up." Contessa stated, to which she turned around and started to flee before their eyes, causing the gang to growl as they gave chase, while at the same time being careful to take out the smaller spiders that their target used against them.
The Contessa attempted to use spiders that were also explosives to stop them in their tracks, but with the six of them following after her it didn't take them long to take out the obstacles that were in front of them, forcing the Contessa to run away from them... before leaping onto the blimp that was near the end of the walkway, out of range for everyone save for Gilda, Derpy, and Diz, who Sly stopped from blasting the blimp since they were still missing a member.
"She's getting away!" Murray said, anger filling his voice for a moment, as he had been hoping to take the Contessa out before she could leave the area, while at the same time they watched as the blimp ascended towards the sky and headed towards her other base of operations.
"Don't worry pal, Bentley has an idea where she might be going next." Sly stated, to which he stared at the blimp and thought about Carmelita, who was likely wondering when they were coming to rescue her from her prison, "With the majority of the gang back together she doesn't stand a chance."
With Murray rescued from the cell block he had been imprisoned inside, and the Clockwerk Heart restored once the two halves were reunited, the gang returned to their hideout and quickly gathered everything they had brought with them, before starting the drive out of town. Murray was glad to be back in the driver seat of his van, even though he knew that the others had been forced to learn how to drive the van thanks to his absence, but he also promised that, when they had the time, he'd give them a proper lesson in case they needed to drive a stick shift vehicle while he wasn't present. While most of them were happy to be back together, and were trying to have a good time while they drove out of the town, only Sly seemed to be lost in thought. The others knew what he was thinking about, he was worried about Carmelita and the fact that they had no idea what the Contessa might be doing to her, which is why Bentley had the route Murray needed to take to get to the castle that was the other property that the Contessa owned.
Gilda and Derpy were sure that they would be able to find Carmelita and rescue her as well, because they weren't about to leave her in the clutches of someone that was as evil as the Contessa... and something told them that if they didn't act fast, and rescue her quickly, they'd never find her again.
Sly and the gang were quick to decide that the time for payback was now, before something happened to the Contessa and caused her to disappear, because there was one thing he was interested in recovering from her, regardless of whether or not she had a Clockwerk part in her possession. Carmelita was missing, the gang knew that the moment Bentley overheard their target speaking when he was looking for information on Sly and Murray, back at the prison, and the only place she could be is somewhere inside the Contessa's castle. Secretary Sen, who Bentley sent a message to so he could be aware of their movements, even confirmed that the Contessa had retreated to her castle, the well-fortified gothic nightmare that would make any lesser thief run in terror, while also informing them that Interpol had figured out that the Contessa had the Clockwerk Eyes in her possession. Sly knew those eyes well, as the Thievius Raccoonus described the eyes as stopping the ancient owl's opponents dead in their tracks, transfixed in their gaze, though it doesn't take a genius to figure out what an accomplished hypnotist could do with such powerful and dangerous artifacts.
The unfortunate news was that someone had spread the news of the Contessa's corruption throughout Interpol, where Secretary Sen assured them that he had no part in revealing that news to anyone, but at the same time they knew it had to be Neyla's doing, as she seemed to know more than she was revealing. Constable Neyla, being closest to the case since Carmelita was missing, was actually granted a cash allowance to hire an army of local mercenaries, no doubt on the orders of Director Barkley. That told them that they were walking into a full-scale war, between Neyla and the Contessa, but they all knew that they had to act now before things went from bad to worse. As such Bentley managed to find them a decent building that was large enough for them to use as their base of operations, though at the same time they had to be careful because Neyla had tanks patrolling the area around the bank and the part of the city that was right outside the Contessa's castle. Despite the fact that Gilda, Derpy, and Diz could easily find the clue bottles and the treasures in the area, they opted not to do that and simply bought some paragliders for the future.
Once they were ready Sly headed outside with Gilda and Derpy, letting Diz spend some time with Bentley and Murray while they did some research on the area, before the three of them jumped over to the building that was across from the bank and stopped when they reached the mission beacon that Bentley had left for them.
"Okay guys, here's the plan." Bentley said, to which their binocucoms stared at the castle that was in front of them while he spoke, though Sly noticed a tower that seemed important since it was all alone, "First, I need you to take some recon photos around the area, then you should make your way up to the Re-education Tower."
"Looks... pleasant enough." Sly commented, though at the same time that sounded like the place where the Contessa would lock up someone like Carmelita, and if that was true he hoped that he could find some way to get her out of there before the Contessa succeeded in hurting her more than she already has.
"Oh, and I know that you don't need to be told this, but stay clear of tanks." Bentley informed them, knowing that if it came to it both Gilda and Derpy could smash the tanks with their magic, something that even Diz could do, "You know, so you don't get blown up into little sticky pieces."
The first thing that they took a picture of was of the bank itself, where Bentley informed all three of them that Secretary Sen had been given information on Neyla's operation and that the bank was Neyla's headquarters, meaning that it might become one of their targets in the near future. From there they descended to a walkway that was near the water and found a boat patrolling the water, one that happened to belong to the Contessa from what Bentley said when they snapped a picture of it, while also determining that it might be a useful way to get across the gap without crossing over the bridge that was above them. After getting those two pictures the three of them used the boat to cross over into the Contessa's territory, where they made their way to the Contessa's tanks were patrolling and snapped a picture of them as well, to make sure they had a sense of their target's armory. At the same time Derpy took a picture of the blimp that their target had used to escape them back at the prison, just so Bentley had a picture of it in case he came up with a way for them to use the blimp against the Contessa.
When they had those four photos taken, and had a good idea of what they were up against, Bentley reminded them to take a look at the re-education tower, though to get up there they had to use some well placed walkways that were incorporated into the designs of the castle and some spider silk jump pads to reach the front door... only for them to discover that the front door of the tower was actually locked, which made sense if the Clockwerk Eyes were located inside the tower itself. Fortunately there happened to be an alternate route to reach the top of the tower, as there was a hook they could latch onto that was to the right of the door and a pipe that went all the way to the only window that was attached to the tower. The moment they reached the area around the window Sly carefully opened it up and they slipped inside the top of the structure, though after taking a few steps they came to a stop as they took in the situation that was playing out right in front of their eyes. As they suspected the Contessa was hiding away at the top of the tower, with the Clockwerk Eyes attached to some sort of machine, while she was being guarded by some vulture guards with pointed helmets for some reason... and capturing Sly's attention was Carmelita, who was strapped to a wooden table with the power of the Eyes being directed at her and her mind.
"Bentley, there's more than just the Clockwerk Eyes up here." Gilda quietly said, as she didn't want to make a lot of unnecessary noise at the moment, not when they wanted to survey the situation, get some pictures, and then come up with a game plan to get rescue Carmelita and get the Clockwerk Eyes.
"Why are you doing this?!" Carmelita asked, where Sly, Gilda, and Derpy noticed that someone had taken the effort to change her back into her thief attire, where the pack containing the rest of her stuff was on a nearby table, just out of her reach, "Neyla, she set me up, I'm an honest cop!"
"Honest?" Contessa asked, as if she found something funny about the word, while at the same time her guards seemed to glance at each other for a moment, as if they were thinking whatever she was thinking, though at the same time the trio noticed there was a hint of anger in her voice, "Carmelita Fox, the moment you came into contact with Sly Cooper, and didn't arrest him like you should have, you stopped being an 'honest cop'. You had this coming to you the moment you failed your job."
"Why are you doing this to me?" Carmelita asked again, showing that, despite the fact that the Clockwerk Eyes were being used on her, she still had control over her mind and was fighting off the hypnosis that the Contessa was throwing at her, but they knew it was only a matter of time until she cracked.
"Because, despite your corruption, you are honest and there are those at Interpol that still believe in you." Contessa replied, to which she focused on the panel that was in front of her, showing that she would answer the question while she worked on whatever she was working on, "You see, by assisting the Cooper Gang you learned too much about the Klaww Gang and its spice operation. It was only a matter of time before one of you found out that I was a secret member... so when Neyla gave me the chance to put all of you in custody I took it. Besides, the members of your gang that weren't captured raided my prison, I've been ousted as a member of the Klaww Gang, and I couldn't break anyone with the time given to me... so, at the very least, I'll focus my efforts on you."
"You're a disgrace to Interpol!" Carmelita shouted, showing her disgust that one of her fellow officers of the law could actually be persuaded to join a gang of criminals, true villains that were seeking some goal that no one was aware of at the moment, "I swear that the moment I'm free from these bindings I'll take you out and make sure you suffer for what you have done to me and the Cooper Gang."
"Whatever you say my dear." Contessa said, also revealing that she honestly didn't care for Carmelita at all, as if all she saw was a corrupt cop and nothing else, which caused Sly to growl for a moment, "I'm afraid that your life, let alone what you called your 'life's work', isn't going to last much longer. Once I integrate the Clockwerk Eyes into this device your 'life's work' will be whatever I tell you."
"I won't be brainwashed that easily." Carmelita stated, where she continued her struggle against the bindings on her wrists and ankles, indicating that she wasn't about to give up on freeing herself, though at the same time Sly was sure that he saw a lone tear run down the side of her face.
"Quite right, it won't be easy... or painless." Contessa replied, though that was when a light smile graced her face for a moment, as if the notion of inflicting such a torment on someone was part of the process that she enjoyed the most, "But I will reprogram your mind and you will take the fall for me at Interpol. Now, just lay back and relax, go to your happy place and stay there... forever."
"I don't think they've seen you guys yet." Bentley commented, speaking into their ears the moment the Contessa and Carmelita stopped talking, though he was also quiet enough so that his voice didn't echo in the area that the siblings were standing in, "Take a few photos and get out of there."
"No... we can't leave now." Sly stated, as his eyes were fixed on Carmelita, because he could only imagine the pain that the Contessa was inflicting upon her in an attempt to break her mind and transform her into someone that she wasn't, while robbing him of the person he loved with all his heart, "We have to help Carmelita, she's in trouble!"
"Sly, there's nothing you, Gilda, and Derpy can do right now!" Bentley stated, though he knew that it had been a mistake to send Sly into the re-education tower, since there was always the chance that Carmelita would be located there as well, "Get the recon photos and come back to the safe house... I swear, we'll find a way to help her."
Sly stood there as Gilda and Derpy took the photos of everything that seemed of importance to them, though he simply stared at Carmelita and hoped that whatever plan they came up with would allow them to act quickly, because he hated seeing her like this. From the photos they took the trio was able to learn that the computer terminal on their side of the metallic grate was hotwired into the tower's systems, and that Bentley stated that they had to find a way to switch it's power back online. Carmelita herself was being tied down to an Irontech 2-50, even though it looked like a wooden table with some metallic cuffs attached to it, while she was being watched over by the Shadow Guard, the Contessa's elite soldiers based on the information Secretary Sen sent them when Bentley informed him that they were going after the Contessa once more. The real surprise came from what the Clockwerk Eyes were attached to, an evil and indestructible machine called a Mind Shuffler, something that Mz. Ruby had briefly mentioned when she spoke of dark magic, which meant that she might know a way to destroy it... or at the very least the books that she gave them might hold the key they were looking for.
With the pictures taken, and they were sure that they had everything they needed, the sisters started to move out of the re-education tower so they could head back to the safe house, though Sly cast one last look at Carmelita, for now anyway, before following his sisters outside so they could begin the trek back to Bentley, Murray, and Diz.
Upon their return to the safe house Bentley informed them that the moment he learned that there was a Mind Shuffler involved in this operation, and knew how dangerous it was, he sent an email to Secretary Sen and asked if he knew a method to get rid of such a thing. Unfortunately the Secretary didn't have that sort of information, but Mz. Ruby, who he went to speak to once he learned what the Contessa had in her arsenal, revealed the exact specifics on how to properly destroy such a device, and it didn't require needing the ability to channel magic to do so. Mz. Ruby informed them, via an emergency video conference that the Secretary set up for them, that the only way to destroy a Mind Shuffler, after confirming that it was the machine in question when she was shown the picture, was with something called a Bad Mojo Bomb. The only way to create such a powerful bomb was to drain bad mojo from several runoffs, using a semi-magical device called a Bad Mojo Collector, where Mz. Ruby said that in a castle like the one the Contessa owned, with as old as it had to be, there had to be several crypts that contained the necessary energy for the task... along with the collector they needed to create the bomb in question.
Once they had the information they needed and thanked Mz. Ruby for helping them, where she said it was a pleasure since she missed working with them every week, the conference call was disconnected and Bentley explained the rest of the first stages of their plan; where Murray would kidnap the head of security for the castle, while at the same time Sly would use some long dead ghosts to freak out Neyla and force her to purchase some additional firepower.
The moment they understood what they needed to do Murray, accompanied by Diz, headed out of the safe house and started the journey into the castle, though they used the boat that Sly, Gilda, and Derpy had spotted so they could get to their destination without being spotted so quickly. While they did that they spotted both Gilda and Derpy take off from the safe house as well, as they were heading out to collect all the clue bottles and treasures while the skies were still clear, as part of Bentley's plan, if it worked, would bring in some planes that would dominate the sky for Neyla's forces. Fortunately the guards didn't catch them as they found a ramp that would take them up to the upper levels of the castle, before allowing them to jump over to the roof area that had the mission beacon attached to it, where they pulled out their binocucoms and let Bentley brief them on the mission.
"Murray, Diz, can either of you see the General from where your standing?" Bentley asked, as his math indicated that they should be standing someplace that gave them a good view of the person he needed to talk to, provided that he was out on patrol like he was supposed to be.
"Nope." Murray replied, though even as he said that he spotted an older bat guard walking up the same ramp they had walked up a few moments ago, making him wonder if they had been spotted when they walked up it, "Just an old man coming up the ramp."
"Don't let his appearance fool you." Bentley said, his tone indicating that many people who met this eye were fooled by his appearance, or at least that was what all the reports said, "That's General Clawfoot, and he's one the toughest old soldiers you'll ever see... not to mention head of castle security."
"He's the head of security?" Diz asked, to which she put down her binocucom and stared at the elderly guard, as she was curious as to why they needed the information that he had, but she guessed that Bentley would tell her and Murray that when they brought General Clawfoot back to the safe house, "Well, we'll just have to be careful when we beat up him, otherwise this operation will be a bust."
"Oh, don't worry about that. He's only afraid of two things: fire and water." Bentley replied, revealing another bit of information that Secretary Sen must have given him, which in turn helped them out in the long run, "Other than that, neither of you could hurt him even if you wanted to. He might even come in handy along the way... as a projectile."
"Wow, that is handy." Murray commented, as he had several thoughts about using guards as weapons like that, and had done so a few times in the past, but this was the first time he was being allowed to actually do something like this with such an important guard.
With the mission fresh in their minds both Murray and Diz headed over to where General Clawfoot was patrolling and approached him from behind, where Diz used her cane and pulled his feel out from under him, allowing Murray to swoop in and grab the general. The moment he was holding the general, and the two of them started moving back towards the safe house, General Clawfoot started to struggle and made some noise, causing the guards to come and investigate what was going on. Diz, fully prepared for this situation since this was the reason she came along with Murray, used her cane to knock out the guards when they came running, sometimes even going invisible and attacking them from behind to make it seem like the ghosts in the area didn't care for them or the rest of the Contessa's forces. Fortunately the guards weren't expecting someone like her to be there, as sometimes some of them stared at her as she faded in and out of reality with her invisibility power... before she knocked them out and left them to tell the Contessa why they had fallen asleep on the job and let their general get kidnapped, if she even heard about this event.
When they reached the front of the castle, where the bridge between the Contessa's territory and Neyla's territory was located, Diz knocked out the guards that were advancing on Murray and opened the way for him to move forward, to which the two of them quickly crossed the bridge, avoided the spotlights, and bypassed the tanks... where they made their way to the safe house, where Bentley was waiting for them with a feather in his hand.
"Well, well... General Clawfoot, we've got a lot to talk about." Bentley said, though at the same time Murray tossed the General at the floor and stunned him, allowing Bentley to do whatever he had planned to get the information he needed for them to move forward, "You wouldn't by chance know the security codes to the castle gates? Hmmm? Don't feel like talking huh? How about a little of this?"
It was in that moment that Bentley used the feather and started tickling the General in multiple places all over his body, causing an immediate reaction from the General, one that neither Murray or Diz were expecting when their friend started asking for information.
"Ha ha ha... drack! Ho ho, ha ha ha!" General Clawfoot laughed, revealing that his one weakness was being tickled, which was an extremely strange weakness when the duo thought about it, but that didn't stop Bentley from continuing his 'interrogation'.
"Talk you scoundrel!" Bentley stated, to which Murray and Diz sat down nearby and watched, as they were sure that he would tell them when he had the information he needed, while at the same time giving Sly and the others a chance to do their mission.
"Ha Ha, Oooo Ha ha Fwah! Ho-Ho-ooooooo!" General Clawfoot chuckled, to which Murray and Diz sighed, as they both predicted that it was going to be some time before Bentley got what he wanted from the General, so he could move out and start forging the Bad Mojo Bomb Mz. Ruby had told them about.
They were sure that Mz. Ruby wouldn't steer them wrong, not after she had assisted three of them learn how to use magic over a two year period, though they would see how effective the bomb actually was... once they had completed the other missions that Bentley had planned for them.
Once Murray and Diz had returned to the safe house, with General Clawfoot in hand so Bentley could interrogate him for the information that he needed, Sly, Gilda, and Derpy headed out and carefully approached the area that the boat traveled in and used that to get to the area under the Contessa's castle. The reason neither Gilda or Derpy flew over there, and carried their brother with them, was because they were sure that the Contessa realized that they might already be outside her base of operations and had commanded her guards to keep an eye out for them. Even if she didn't give them that command, and they weren't looking towards the sky, both of the sisters agreed that this time around they might want to go about things as ordinary thieves and not the magic users they had become, even though they both tucked their wings in as well so they'd act like Sly the entire time they were on this mission. While they were riding the boat over to the underside of the castle, however, both of them noticed that Sly was staring up at the Re-education Tower, his mind focused on who was trapped up there.
"Sly, we'll save Carmelita." Gilda said, to which she placed her hand on her brother's shoulder, who stood there for a moment before sighing, where he nodded his head and tried to focus on what they were doing at the moment, but they knew that he was going to be distracted for some time.
"Yeah, we'll rescue her, get the Eyes, and beat the Contessa," Sly replied, though at the same time the boat came to the wooden walkway that was beneath the castle, where he jumped over to it and started walking towards the crypt area that Bentley wanted them to head to.
Gilda and Derpy followed after their brother, worried that he was going to be distracted because of the fact that Carmelita was trapped and was being tormented by the Contessa, but at the same time they knew that they were going to do everything in their power to save Sly's girlfriend. Even with that thought crossed their minds the three of them carefully walked into the area that was in front of them, where they found that the guards that were patrolling the area didn't seem to notice that they were walking towards the crypts, which made things better for them. Once they reached the area under the mission marker, and made absolutely sure that there weren't any guards that were turning to look at them, they jumped up onto the railing that would take them to the roof of the building and landed on the area that Bentley wanted to talk to them in. At the same time they knew that it was going to be some time before Bentley contacted them, since he was likely still interrogating General Clawfoot, to which the three of them hid themselves in some areas where they wouldn't be seen as they waited for Bentley to contact them.
A few minutes later Sly noticed that his binocucom was blinking, something that both of his sisters had noticed as well, before they pulled them out and raised them to their eyes, where they found that Bentley was ready to tell them what they needed to do to harass Neyla.
"Alright Sly, there's your new objective." Bentley said, to which they found that their view was brought to the crypt that they were standing near, which made sense that he would have them stand close to their next objective, "I need the three of you to sneak inside and smash the coffin of the Evil Wolf Priestess."
"That sounds pretty harsh." Sly replied, though at the same time he had to wonder why the people that had built this castle would have kept the crypt intact, since he was sure that, in the past, people like that ended up getting burned and buried in an unmarked grave, meaning this one was special, "Does the old girl really deserve that sort of treatment?"
"Weren't you listening? She was an Evil Wolf Priestess." Bentley stated, as he couldn't believe that Sly seemed to be missing the point he was trying to make, while at the same time both Gilda and Derpy knew that they would benefit from such a thing, and maybe purify some souls while they were at it, "Once you smash the coffin it'll free all the ghosts trapped in there with her."
"Okay," Sly slowly said, as he was still wondering why they were going to do this, but when he thought back to the slideshow Bentley had set up he guessed that the plan he had in mind might be able to work, "I don't know where you're going with all this but freeing trapped ghosts sounds vaguely heroic."
The moment the connection was down the three of them put away their binocucoms and headed for the door of the crypt, pausing when a guard walked near the door, where Derpy silently landed behind the wolf guard and stole both the coins and his golden watch from his pocket, before he moved forward. The instant that happened they waited until he was some distance away before Derpy opened the door, as silently as she could, before the three of them headed inside the crypt and began their search for the coffin that the priestess had been placed in. Of course as they walked down the hallway that was in front of them they came to a part of the area that had a few swinging blades, deadly looking ones that were designed to keep people from trespassing, but at the same time the three of them took turns navigating their way through the hazards as they kept their eyes open for the coffin they were after. Fortunately just beyond the trap was an area with a few coffins, though the one in the middle, raised above the others, looked like the one they were after, to which they carefully approached it and smashed the lid into pieces.
The result of the lid's destruction sent out a small wave of energy that tore the other coffins apart, apparently knocking out the wolf guards that had been sleeping inside them, before the ghosts that had been trapped inside surged out of the crypt... to which the three of them headed back through the trap they had walked through and walked outside, where they found that the ghosts were currently flying all over the place, only for them to see what the next stage of Bentley's plan was.
"Before you guys left for the crypt, I modified the imagers in your binocucoms, so now they can capture ghosts." Bentley informed them, while at the same time they seemed to be following one of the ghosts that was nearby, who seemed to be minding it's own business and wasn't even haunting anyone.
"Didn't we just set these guys free?" Sly inquired, as he was beginning to wonder if it would have been simpler, not to mention easier, to just have Gilda, Derpy, and Diz do something to get the point across and force Neyla's hand, all in preparation for the heist, "Why would we want to capture them again?"
"Don't worry Sly, it's only a short-term confinement this time." Bentley said, though he found it amusing that neither of the sisters had said anything yet, but at the very least they seemed to be listening as he explained everything about the mission to their brother, "I need the three of you to gather all the ghosts by taking pictures of them, then set them free down the chimney of Neyla's headquarters."
"If we know Neyla as well as we think we do, she'll think it's a sneak attack from the Contessa." Derpy stated, as she knew what Bentley was getting at, and so did Gilda, though not a few seconds later Sly nodded his head as well, meaning that he could see what Bentley was talking about now.
"Correct." Bentley confirmed, happy that the sisters had figured out what he was saying, while at the same time a little disappointed that Sly was so slow to figure it out, but then he realized why that would be the case and decided it was best if he said something else, "If I did my math right, and I always do my math right, Neyla should respond to the assault by purchasing more firepower."
"Anything bad for the Contessa is good for us," Gilda said, though at the same time she grinned, because after everything that their target had put her brother, Murray, and Carmelita through so far, it was good to be getting some payback at long last, "and we get to really freak out Neyla in the process."
From what Bentley could tell them there were nine ghosts in total, meaning that all of them could take three apiece, though at the same time Sly insisted that his sisters take the ones that were much harder for him to get to, since they were running out of time until the Contessa smashed through Carmelita's defenses. Sure, they hadn't given her a whole lot of time to do anything, but there was no telling when she had started the process and Sly was absolutely sure that she was in pain at the moment, if that tear earlier was anything to go by. As such he wanted them to make sure they could get the ghosts that would take too long for an ordinary thief to reach, such as himself, and watched as they flew off to find their targets, while at the same time heading over to the side that their safe house was on so he could catch the ghosts that were the closest to Neyla. While he tracked down his chosen ghosts, however, he did see both of his sisters flying through the air, in a manner that would make sure they weren't seen by the Contessa's guards, before snapping pictures of the ghosts they were chasing, causing him to chuckle as he turned his own attention to the ones he was chasing.
Between the three of them it honestly took four or five minutes for all nine of the ghosts to be rounded back up, and the pictures tied to a special lantern that would release them once they had dropped it into the bank, to which they moved into position and dropped it... where not a few moments later Neyla opened the doors and ran outside, though the look on her face was priceless as she stared at the castle.
"So, the Contessa wants war, eh?" Neyla commented, staring at the castle for a few moments, as she couldn't believe that the disgraced Interpol Agent would pull such a move on her, before a thought came to mind and brought a smile to her face when she remembered the funds she had left over, "Perhaps it's time I purchased a little air power; a few bombers should put that old charlatan in her place."
With their task complete the three of them waited until Neyla was back inside the bank that was her base of operations, where she was likely going to call in the bombers and get them started on their mission, before they headed back to the safe house and found that General Clawfoot was gone, though they didn't want to know what had happened to him. The moment they returned Bentley picked up his gear and walked outside with Diz walking behind him, as she was going to be helping him during his mission, even if part of it was flying around the castle and interpreting the information that was on his computer. As such Diz grabbed onto Bentley the moment they were outside the safe house, spread her wings, and took off towards the mission start area, once more surprising Bentley by the fact that she was able to fly with the size of her wings, while also being surprised by the fact that she hadn't shifted back into her male form yet. Generally when a switched happened it was only for a few hours, but he had to guess that the amount of energy Diz had poured into creating those golems had been more than the hyena had been expecting, because it had been some time since they left the prison and she was still in her current form... but Bentley pushed that thought aside, as Diz's chaotic energies made it impossible for him to understand anything about her and what she was able to do.
Fortunately the mission area was close to the one where Sly, Gilda, and Derpy had started their mission, to which Diz landed behind the building that was behind the crypt her family members had gone into and found the beacon that Bentley had placed for himself... to which Diz sent him down and input the code that General Clawfoot had given them, opening the door so they could enter the building, but once they were inside they came to a stop when they spotted a backpack like device on a pedestal.
"That's it!" Bentley said, though his tone indicated that he was extremely pleased with what was sitting in front of them, which told Diz that this had to be the very item that they were searching for, "It's just like Mz. Ruby said; the Contessa would have a Bad Mojo Collector to transport the overflow."
"So that's the semi-magical device that sucks up bad mojo." Diz commented, staring at the contraption for a moment, as she wasn't entirely sure that it was safe to carry around, but since Mz. Ruby had told them it was the only way to safely destroy the Mind Shuffler, and save Carmelita, she decided to roll with it.
"Yes, though I'll need it to gather the runoff from these spouts." Bentley stated, taking a moment to study the device as well, while at the same time recalling everything that he had read in the email that Sen had sent him with some additional information on what they would be doing with this, "It's also not going to be easy to do that, mostly because bad mojo is a powerfully dark force... and if someone takes any damage while carrying a collector, well, they're done for. It also presents an interesting tactical challenge... perhaps we can use the deathtraps native to these crypts against any foe that might attempt to thwart our collection of the ectoplasm."
"It definitely seems that these switches are linked to specific deathtraps," Diz said, staring that the deathtraps that were in front of them, what they could see anyway, and knew that this was going to be an interesting mission, while at the same time being glad that Bentley had asked him to come assist him.
"Once all four cylinders of the Black Mojo Collector are full we should have enough black magic to destroy the Mind Shuffler." Bentley stated, reminding Diz of why they were they, though he waited a moment for her to move into position in front of one of the switches, before slipping the collector onto his back.
The moment Bentley took the Bad Mojo Collector, and joined Diz near one of the switches, the doors on the other side of the room opened and wolf guards started to pile out one at a time, where the two of them discovered that the deathtrap that was in front of them was a simple smasher that crushed the guards when they walked onto it and one of them pressed one of the three switches in front of them. Diz moved between the switch on the left and the middle, letting Bentley stay by the right one, where they carefully timed using the switches, though at the same time the guards were relentless in their attempts to stop them from draining the spout that was above them. It took them a few minutes to deal with the guards that were coming at them, where they would pin all of this on the fact that the Contessa's guards seemed to have a death wish and kept charging at them without their own safety in mind, before the spout shattered and the guards decided to stop coming. Once that was done the two of them headed out through the door they had opened a few minutes ago, where Diz carefully picked Bentley up as she took to the skies, before he pointed out the location of the second spout... which was higher up on the castle than the first one, but easily found and entered without the guards even knowing that they were there.
The second crypt had four switches that they could use to activate the deathtraps, which included a throwing sword trap, two walls made up of blades type trap, a swinging axe trap, and a trap designed to spew fire in case the guards made it through the first three that were in front of them. As such Diz insisted that Bentley stay by the switch closest to the entrance, the fire spewing trap, so they could use it if any guards made it by her and the three traps that were in front of them, where Bentley agreed and Diz got to work stalling the guards that were charging at her. Fortunately the pattern was waiting until a guard was in front of the throwing sword trap, then use the blade walls, followed by the swinging axe, one that was so great that she was able to use to stop the guards without letting a single one reach her or Bentley, where the two of them were able to avoid taking damage until the spout was destroyed. From there they headed outside and Bentley figured out that the third crypt was located close to the crypt that Sly, Gilda, and Derpy went into to free the Evil Wolf Priestess, where Diz got them into the crypt and they found out what was in store for them.
The next crypt had two crusher traps, one fire trap near the entrance, and a gas trap that knocked out all the guards that were standing around the middle of the room, where Diz insisted that Bentley stay where the flames wouldn't get to him and went to town on smashing and burning the guards that were coming at her. Like the last two crypts Diz was able to break the guards and defeat them without letting them hit Bentley, along with the Bad Mojo Collector, to which they walked out of the third one and headed for the final one, which was in the under area of the castle, where Sly and the others had gone through earlier. Fortunately the same passage that the others used to get over to this area was the same one they could use to get to the final crypt, where Bentley input the code and opened the door... where they discovered an area that had two fire traps, a walkway that fell and drowned someone, and the final switch that Bentley was standing near, which he would use if guards got by Diz, where she would retreat and Bentley would shock the entire area and take out the guards.
Between the two of them, and the traps that were in front of them, Diz and Bentley were able to smash their way through the enemies that were coming at them until the final spout was destroyed... where they stood still for a moment as they made sure that the guards weren't coming anymore, before Bentley smiled as he looked at Diz.
"Alright, the deed is done." Bentley said, taking off the Bad Mojo Collector that was on his back and staring at it for a few moments, finding that all four of the chambers were filled, "With a mojo collector at full capacity, we'll be able to blow up the Mind Shuffler, force the Clockwerk Eyes off of it, and, more importantly, save Carmelita."
"That's good news." Diz replied, as she was sure that Sly was going to like the news that Bentley had for him, since they were more focused on rescuing Carmelita than they were retrieving the Eyes, but the Eyes happened to be another prize and they'd take them anyway.
Once they were sure that the Bad Mojo Bomb was ready, wiht the chambers full of the necessary energy, they headed outside and Diz flew them back to the safe house, so they could plan out the next stage of their plans as they waited to see what Neyla and the Contessa did.
When Bentley and Diz returned to the safe house, and carefully stored the Bad Mojo Bomb in an area where it could rest until it was time for the heist, Bentley took a few moments to study the comings and goings of the guards that the Contessa employed and the tanks that Neyla had. Eventually he gathered them together and showed them the next stage of their plan, where Sly, and whoever went with him, needed to steal a voice modulator from the castle and install it under Neyla's headquarters. If all went as planned, and he was sure that the group would succeed in their mission, such a thing would be give them the ability to give orders to Neyla's mercenaries without being detected, which would be useful in the heist, once the other objectives were finished. The unfortunate news was that Neyla's recent bomber purchase was making her army over-enthusiastic, meaning that they might strike before the gang was ready, which was where he said that Murray needed to hotwire one of the Contessa's tanks and go to town on the mercenaries. The last thing they needed to do was simple, as Bentley said that he would need to venture back into the crypts to power up the old computer in the Re-education Tower, which they needed since they were going to save Carmelita.
As the others agreed with the missions that were being given to them, and the fact that they needed to get them done fast before the Contessa managed to break Carmelita's mind spurred them into motion immediately, Bentley headed outside and was picked up by Derpy... to which she flew them over to the stone door that they needed to open, once more imputing the codes that General Clawfoot gave them, before entering the area in front of them, where they came to a stop when they saw what was in front of them.
"So, how are you going to hack the computers down there when they've got no power?" Derpy asked, because the terminal that was to their left clearly had no power to them, which meant that Bentley had to have a plan that would allow him to restore power to the computer.
"According to General Clawfoot, there's a mobile energy source that is being stored at the end of this hallway." Bentley replied, knowing that he hadn't explain everything to Sly and the others, rather they knew that he had a plan and were trusting that he could get it done without fail.
"'Hallway' is a pretty kind term," Derpy commented, staring at the obstacles that were in front of them, ones that she was sure that she could get over with the greatest of ease with her wings, "for what looks like a complex medieval gauntlet of death."
"Yes well, while the idea of jumping down a crypt filled with whirling, razor-sharp spikes might scare me," Bentley said, revealing that he was thinking about this in the sense that he was the only one tackling the situation, but Derpy knew that he was actually thinking about how she was going to get them through this, "in fact terrorize my every fiber, it's the only way to power up that old computer in the Re-education Tower. Without that thing online we'll never be able to free Carmelita from her bindings... much less get at the Clockwerk Eyes."
"You're a good man Bentley." Derpy stated, as she knew that the gang was lucky to have such a intelligent person as one of their friends, especially since he was actually putting Carmelita, Sly's girlfriend, over the dangerous Clockwerk Eyes that the Contessa had, before she turned towards the hallway and picked Bentley up, "Shall we get started?"
"The sooner we get the battery, the sooner I can turn the computer on," Bentley replied, to which he prepared himself as Derpy stared at the traps that were in front of them, as she was already determining the best course of action she could take to get them to their destination.
Derpy opened her wings once more and flew above the spinning roller trap that was in front of them, where she landed in front of the stairs down to the next level of the crypt, which had another set of spinning roller traps and two swinging axe traps near the other set of stairs. The next room, after bypassing those traps, had two roller traps that were also easy to get around, especially since Derpy could just fly over them with ease, before they headed into the next room, which happened to have more spinning roller traps on the floor. From there they found that the final room had a pool of water between them and their target, though as Derpy moved through the air some octopus tentacles rose up and tried to swat her out of the air, but she bypassed them with ease and landed on the other side of the room... where she set Bentley down and let him survey the area that they were in.
"A-ha! This acid battery should do the trick." Bentley stated, to which he put his weapon away and set the battery on his back, where he turned towards the terminal that was near them, though at the same time Derpy watched as it turned on when Bentley approached it, "I just need to walk close to the electrode and voila! Prepare to be hacked you knave."
Derpy stood there for a moment, watching Bentley carefully hack into the terminal that was in front of him, while at the same time noticing that he was smashing his way through the defenses that were inside the terminal as he also made several comments about his skills. Derpy had to admit that just watching him hack into the computer was interesting, since he was the only one that could do something like this in the first place, though eventually Bentley pulled his hands back and cheered for his success, while also stating that there were two more they needed to hack into. As such Derpy carefully picked Bentley up once more, this time making sure to take the battery into consideration, before she made her way back towards the second terminal that they had passed by on their way towards the area that the battery had been located in. Since she could bypass the traps that lined the crypt, made for enemies that couldn't fly as it turned out, it didn't take them long to get to where the second terminal was located, though when they arrived at their destination she set Bentley down and landed as he hacked into the computer.
It took Bentley a little longer to hack into this computer than it took him to hack into the first one, mostly because it had a few more defenses for him to deal with, but eventually he claimed the computer and activated it, further empowering the main computer in the Re-education Tower. Once that was done Derpy picked him up and continued to navigate her way through the traps that she could simply fly over, making her wonder what the castle's builders would have thought about the potential that a flying person was bypassing everything they had built. A few moments later the two of them were back at the entrance, where the first computer they had seen was located, to which Derpy set Bentley down at let him get to work as the terminal came back online, while at the same time she stretched a little as her friend restored power to the computer... until he stopped tapping the controls and turned towards her with a smile on his face.
"With that old computer powered up our work here is done." Bentley said, to which Derpy nodded, as that was good news in the long run, especially since they were trying to save Carmelita from the Contessa, before the two of them headed outside and flew back to the safe house.
It was only a matter of time until the gang was ready to assault the Contessa's Re-education Tower, so they could bust Carmelita out of the tower and make off with the Clockwerk Eyes at the same time, while also showing the Contessa what happens when someone messes with the Cooper Gang... and then, once they were sure that Carmelita was okay, they would deal with Neyla and the remaining members of the Klaww Gang.
When Bentley and Derpy returned from powering up the computer in the Re-education Tower, which pleased Sly more than he was willing to admit since that meant that they were one step closer to saving Carmelita, Murray and Diz set out immediately, as Murray had another task to complete. The only reason that Diz was going along, to help assist Murray in dealing with the tanks, was because she had next to nothing to do and was hoping that she would find some excuse to use her powers, to maybe snap her back to her original form. Murray, of course, was glad to have Diz along for the ride, mostly because they worked well together, though as they walked outside the two of them carefully avoided the tanks that were moving around the area as they headed towards the location of the mission start. That meant making their way through the area that Neyla controlled, carefully crossing over the bridge between the two areas, and walk to the right of the entrance they had walked through, where an entrance to the Contessa's tanks was located.
Once they were in position, and Diz knocked out the guards that were in the immediate area, the two of them pulled out their binocucoms and prepared themselves to receive their instructions from Bentley, as while they knew that the mission was taking out Neyla's tanks they had no idea how many he wanted them to destroy.
"Murray, the tank uses two analog sticks to steer it." Bentley said, informing Murray of the controls that were inside the tanks, because of the fact that Murray had been in the solitary area of the prison he had no idea what the controls of a tank were, which he knew thanks to the information he gained from the book that Sly stole, "You'll need to push both of them in the upwards direction to move forward, both towards you in order to go in reverse, and in opposite directions to rotate. You'll also find that there is a button that allows you to fire your turret. You'll need to take out six tanks to get the job done."
Murray nodded as Diz opened the window that was near where they were standing, allowing Murray to slip into the area that the tank was located in, though as he slipped into the tank he was forced to move the seat so he had enough room to actually sit down and actually use the controls that were in front of him. Diz watched all of this as it happened and, when Murray was ready, she opened the door that was in their way and watched as Murray drove the tank outside the garage area it had been resting in until they came to claim it, before jumping on top of it and riding it outside. Once Murray had the tank outside it's storage area he moved forward immediately, happily charging into battle as he loosed several blasts at the enemy tank that was patrolling the area, destroying it before it even had a chance to fire back. The moment that tank was finished Murray continued moving forward, heading around some buildings and made his way towards the safe house, though while he did that Diz surprised him by using her chaotic power to snap the tread of the closest tank, allowing him to blast it apart as well.
When one of the other tanks spotted them, and started to turn towards them, Diz wove her magic through the air and disappeared from the area that she was in, merely turning invisible so Neyla wouldn't be able to identify who her tank commanders had seen, before using another spell that made the tank miss it's shot, which barreled into another enemy tank and knocked it backwards. That moment allowed Murry to fire at the first tank, knocking it apart, before turning his attention to the second one and blew it up as well, though as he moved forward he found that it was rather easy for him to disassemble Neyla's tanks, making both him and Diz wonder what sort of mercenaries Neyla had enlisted to help her with this assault. The last two were a little tougher, as they were the ones actually patrolling the bank that Neyla had claimed as her headquarters, though at the same time Murray and Diz used their combined abilities to dismantle and trash the tanks, even causing one of them to damage the other again, before Murray dealt the finishing blow and reduced them to a pile of scrap.
"Aw yeah!" Murray said, to which he turned the tank around and headed back towards the storage area he had gotten it from, that way when the guards came around they would find that it was still where they had left it, even though the gas would be a little lower than it would normally be, "Eat that you mercenary scum!"
"Nice work you two." Bentley spoke up, as he had heard the sounds of the battle from inside the safe house, but his sensors told him that they had done exactly what he needed them to do, which made him smile a bit, "That should cool down those mercenaries for a while."
Once Murray and Diz returned to the storage area, and put the tank where they had gotten it from, they headed out through the same window, closed it to avoid raising the alarm, and made their way back across the bridge, where they headed back towards the safe house so they could rest up. Along the way Murray caught Diz looking down at herself, as he knew that she was hoping that the use of her magic would have snapped her back to being a guy again, but then she sighed and simply continued on her way, putting that thought behind her, especially since they were here for one specific reason. When the two of them got back, and the rest of the gang congratulated them on a job well done, Sly and Gilda moved out for the final mission they needed to complete before the heist began, even though Sly's mind was only focused on one thing at the moment. Gilda, knowing that time was of the essence, grabbed her brother and took to the skies, carefully avoiding being seen by the pilots that were bombing the area around the castle, before dropping down in the area that the mission beacon was located in.
Sly chuckled, as once upon a time he had considered using his sisters' wings to be cheating, and had restricted them to use them only when it was necessary, but right now he was thankful for it, as it made things that much easier for all of them, since they could get to places much faster... though he pushed that thought to the back of his mind as he pulled out his binocucom, so he and Gilda could hear what Bentley needed to tell them about their objective.
"The Contessa plans on taking control of Neyla's army by fooling them with a prototype voice modulation device." Bentley told them, to which their view shifted until they were looking at the bank that Neyla was no doubt resting inside, before he continued to speak as they looked down at a pair of guards that were nearby, "To get the thing working she'll have to jack it into the satellite connection beneath Neyla's headquarters."
"So, based on what you said earlier, you'd like us to steal the device and hook it up for our side," Sly said, recalling the briefing that Bentley had given them some time ago, even though his mind was more focused on who the Contessa was currently tormenting at the moment, "giving us control over Neyla's mercenaries. Sounds great!"
"You and Gilda will have to steal a few keys here and there to get access to the more secure areas of the castle." Bentley stated, though at the same time he knew that this wouldn't be a problem for the pair, as they were both master thieves and would be able to get the job done without fail.
"If there are pockets to be picked, I'm your man." Sly replied, as he was going to enjoy this a little, because he really wanted to screw over both Neyla and the Contessa, mostly for different reasons, but at the same time this was another step towards saving the one person he loved.
"First, I need you two to steal a wire tap and the voice modulator," Bentley continued, knowing that Sly might be getting distracted and that he needed to get the mission underway before something else happened, "then head for the sewers beneath Neyla's headquarters."
"We're on it." Gilda stated, to which both she and Sly put their binocucoms away and stared down at the guards that were standing near each other, noticing how they moved so that stealing the keys would take precision and timing that only master thieves could pull off.
What they ended up doing, since the guards were so close together, was that Gilda took the guard who was standing in the middle of the area in front of them, taking his key before he even knew what had hit him, before returning to the area the mission beacon had been placed in, where Sly dropped down and stole the key from the guard who was walking around in a circle. The moment the two keys were in their possession Sly let Gilda pull him into the sky as they headed into the actual castle area, where Bentley informed them that the area the first item was located in was right across from where the Re-education Tower was located. When they entered the room that the keys unlocked they found a number of wolf guards patrolling the room, but as they watched them the siblings found that the guards were more tired that what they would have thought, as all of them fell asleep not even a minute after they had opened the door. Since they weren't about to press their luck, as this was a blessing that they weren't expecting, Sly and Gilda crossed the room as quietly as possible and headed towards the location of the wire tap... though as Sly claimed that, however, Gilda carefully entered the three number combination, 9-6-9, and found the blueprints for a bomb that induced rage, something that Bentley would want to have a look at later.
Once the two of them were outside the first room Bentley contacted them and informed them that the next set of guards were up and ready for them to steal the keys from, to which Gilda discovered that the first key holder was right in front of them, as it was guarding the Re-education Tower's front door. Fortunately that was rather easy for her to get at, because all she had to do was fly into the area behind the guard and take his key, and then fly out before he even had a chance to realize that she had been there to begin with, where she gabbed Sly and carried him off to the other key holder that they were after. The second key holder was literally on the other side of the castle from the first one, standing guard over a little walkway of sorts on the backside of the main part of the castle, but Gilda dropped Sly off behind the guard, letting him take the key before he threw himself off the edge, where she caught him and carried him towards their next destination... the door that was at the very front of the castle, which also happened to be near where Murray and Diz claimed the tank a few minutes ago.
Fortunately, by another stroke of luck, the guards that Diz and Murray had knocked out were still knocked out, almost like their fellow guards thought they were drunk on the job or something, but, once again, they weren't about to complain and used the keys to slip into the area where the real prize was located. This time around, when they entered the next area and saw what was in front of them, they knew that it wasn't going to be as simple as they thought it would be, as a vulture guard stood in front of the stairs they needed to take to move forward. Despite the fact that Gilda could fly over the area, she couldn't avoid the light from the torch the guard was carrying, but Sly had another idea as he looked at the burning torch that was near them, as the moment he whacked it the guard moved from where he was standing, allowing Sly and Gilda to patiently wait a few seconds before knocking him out. The room beyond that one required that they do the same thing, as there was another vulture guard in their way, but he was rather easy to knock out and the duo moved towards the back of the room... where they claimed the voice modulator and made their way back outside, so they could get the show on the road, especially since there was one more set of keys that needed to be stolen.
From what they discovered the next two key holders were patrolling the area around the guillotine, near the area of the second key holder that they had just stolen the key from, though at the same time they found that they were walking in a circle while going in separate directions. Normally this would present a problem, but for master thieves like the Cooper Gang there was always a way, as Gilda landed somewhere safe and let Sly down, before using her wind power to gently encourage one of the guards to come over and investigate, while making the other continue his patrol. Once Sly had the first key, and the guard was knocked out, Gilda made sure to take the second key while the other guard wasn't looking, before carrying them over to the area that they needed to crawl through to reach the door that would allow them to enter the area beneath Neyla's headquarters. When they entered the sewer area they found that all they had to do was ride on some electric wire, which weren't turned on at the moment, swing across a hook, and then knock out the two wolf guards that were down there... before approaching the wall and finding that the Contessa's men had already done the rest of the work for them, which made the two of them smile as Sly opened a link to Bentley.
"Hey Bentely, we got lucky, because it looks like the Contessa's men have already excavated Neyla's satellite cable." Sly said, to which Gilda nodded her head, indicating that she was seeing the same thing, before he decided to ask the question that he thought he knew the answer to, "How should we proceed?"
"Splice in the wire tap then attach the voice modulator." Bentley told them, indicating that there had to be a specific order for this sort of thing to be able to work, which meant that it was a good thing that they asked him before they did anything to the cable, "Once that's done I'll broadcast from the safe house to make sure it works like it's supposed to... this is going to be so cool!"
Sly and Gilda pulled out the wire tap and voice modulator from their bags and carefully connected them to the cable in front of them, where Sly made sure that the wire tap was in position before Gilda attached the voice modulator, though once that was done the two of them headed to the surface and looked out over Neyla's forces... before giving Bentley the go ahead to try whatever he was thinking of doing.
"Uhh, hello mercenary tank forces... would you mind spinning your turrets for me?" Bentley said, though as Sly and Gilda listened they heard Bentley's voice being replaced by Neyla's at the end of his statement, which meant that the device was working like it was supposed to, "Gads, this is cool! I mean... you are all... really cool. Carry on."
Once they were done with their mission they returned to the safe house with haste, where Bentley had them all gather and told them it was time for them to wage war on the castle and, in the confusion they would create along the way, pull off a heist that he called 'Operation: High Road'. The first thing that needed to happen was quite simple, Murray needed to use the codes, provided by General Clawfoot, to take down the spotlights on the main gate, though Bentley would follow that up with him ordering Neyla's forces to attack, thanks to the voice modulator. Sly would then paraglide both himself and Bentley over to the Contessa's getaway blimp, which they would then use to get inside Re-education Tower. Bentley was sure that the assault on the castle will undoubtedly draw the Shadow Guards from their post, exposing the Contessa in the process, who Carmelita was bound to chase after before she even considered leaving with them, which would give them the opportunity to destroy the Mind Shuffler and claim the Clockwerk Eyes before they made their escape with the blimp.
Gilda, Derpy, and Diz inquired what they were supposed to do, as this seemed more like a three person operation instead of a six person operation, and for the most part it seemed like they were supposed to catch Sly and Bentley if they overshot the blimp. Once the blimp was secure they were supposed to do whatever it took to keep the battle going, between Neyla's forces and the Contessa's forces, to which they simply sighed and decided to go with it... because, at the very least, they would be walking out of here with Carmelita.
The moment the gang was ready, and they were done sitting around, Gilda and Derpy helped Sly and Bentley get up to the area that they were supposed to jump off of, while at the same time Diz and Murray headed out for the terminal that controlled the spotlights. Fortunately the two of them were able to make their way over the bridge, avoid the tanks, and not be seen by the spotlights that they were supposed to power off, though they waited for a few moments to be sure that the others were in position before either of them touched anything. A few seconds later Bentley contacted them and told them that it was time to begin the operation, to which the duo nodded as they set down their communicators and turned towards the terminal in question.
"I hope that General guy told the truth or this going to get ugly." Murray said, though while he knew that the codes that the General had given them so far had worked, thanks to the others using them to get their other tasks completed, he was also weary of the fact that this one might be a lie.
Not a few seconds after he pressed the enter key, and let the code surge through the spotlights, both he and Diz watched as the lights went down and the bridge became exposed, which was exactly what Bentley was planning from the very beginning when he got the codes from General Clawfoot.
"The lights are down Bentley, time to call in the cavalry." Diz said, though at the same time she and Murray quickly made their way across the bridge before the other tanks started moving towards the bridge, as they needed to get the van ready for their departure, "We're heading to the van and getting ready to leave before the cops arrive."
"Attention bloodthirsty mercenary forces: the castle defenses are down!" Bentley stated, speaking in Neyla's voice once more, only this time he was ready for the mercenaries to get to work and distract the guards that were around their main objectives, "Seize this opportunity for aggressive military action by pressing an attack on the castle... uhh, Charge! For victory, for Glory!"
"That should be more than enough." Gilda commented, to which the four of them watched the mercenary tanks move over the bridge and start their assault on the Contessa's forces, though that was exactly what they were hoping for when they put this plan into action.
"Now that you're done being a warmonger feel like paragliding over to that blimp?" Sly asked, gesturing to the blimp in question, knowing that his sisters would be more than ready to assist them if anything went wrong, even though Derpy was the one carrying the Bad Mojo Bomb at the moment.
"Just make sure to grab the rope hanging off that thing... I don't want to drown." Bentley said, though the drowning part was also directed towards the sisters, just so they knew that he expected them to assist him and Sly in case they missed their target.
Sly nodded and let Bentley climb onto his back for a moment, keeping himself at the ready for when they got to the blimp, while at the same time keeping his eyes on their target for a few seconds before he jumped off the edge of the part of the castle they were on, where he opened his paraglider and glided down towards the blimp. When he landed on it, however, two wolf guards came out and stood at attention, clearly waiting to take them down, only for Gilda to use the wind and knock them off the blimp, dropping them into the water before Bentley climbed off of Sly so he could direct the blimp towards their destination. Gilda and Derpy landed on the blimp not a few seconds later and let Bentley take them to the Re-education Tower, though when they arrived they carefully entered the chamber that the Contessa was in and remained silent as they stared at the Contessa... who, at the moment, was no longer standing at the controls for the Mind Shuffler and happened to be staring at the guards as they reported what was happening at the moment.
"What! The mercenaries have breached the castle defenses!" the Contessa said, shocked by what she had just been told, because she had been so sure of her defenses, but at the same time she knew what to do next, "All of you go, defend this tower to the last man!"
The Shadow Guard nodded their heads to her command and marched out of the room that they were in, to which the Contessa sighed and turned around, where she headed back to the command terminal that controlled the Mind Shuffler and what she was trying to do to Carmelita.
"Don't worry my dear, I still have time to finish with your 'readjustment'." the Contessa commented, speaking to Carmelita once more, as was apparently her custom when she was working on those that she tried to break, while at the same time not aware of the fact that it was pissing a certain someone off.
"Let me out of here and I'll readjust your face!" Carmelita declared, where she struggled against her bindings once more, something that she had been attempting to do the entire time she had been trapped here, while no doubt wondering when she was going to be saved.
"Okay partner, looks like the Shadow Guard is out of the picture." Sly quietly said, though despite the fact that he was being as quiet as possible Bentley, Derpy, and Gilda could hear the sheer anger in his voice as he stared at the Contessa, all while imagining the pain Carmelita had to be in, "You ready to free our violent little princess?"
"Affirmative, that Irontech 2-50 is a fully integrated system," Bentley replied, knowing that Sly was deeply concerned for Carmelita, though at the same time he was focused on the task at hand, and the Clockwerk Eyes that were still attached to the Mind Shuffler, "access to Carmelita's restraints has to be in this old terminal somewhere."
Bentley turned towards the computer and immediately started hacking into it, though while he worked Sly, Gilda, and Derpy stared at the people in front of them, despising one of them while caring deeply about the other one, though it was only a few moments later when Bentley stepped away from the terminal... and, at the same time, the cuffs that were around Carmelita's arms and legs came undone. The moment that happened Carmelita, sensing that something had changed, rolled to the side and fell off the Irontech 2-50, though it appeared that the sound of her hitting the floor didn't tell the Contessa that something was wrong with the situation. For a few seconds nothing happened, as Carmelita just laid there and didn't appear to be moving at all, though Sly smiled when he saw her head shift and she looked up from where she was resting, before turning to the side and looked at the area that Sly and the others were standing in, where a light smile appeared on her face. That was swiftly followed by a look of rage appearing in place of the smile as she picked herself up and gripped the table where her weapons were located, though she picked up her miniature canes and slipped them into their empty containers... before lifting her pistol and primed it, where she turned around and leveled her weapon with the Contessa.
"Ah-ha! I've isolated the brain pattern," the Contessa said, sounding happy about something, though it was surprising that she hadn't considered the possibility that things weren't going exactly as she had planned, "you and I are about to become the best of friends."
"Okay, new 'best friend'." Carmelita growled, to which she powered up her pistol, intending to blast the Contessa here and now for everything she had done to her since she had been arrested when Rajan was being taken down, "Hands up, and I mean all of 'em."
"My dear you really..." the Contessa started to say, though as she turned around, to stare at Carmelita once more, she immediately noticed something that was wrong and managed to avoid the incoming blast that erupted from Carmelita's pistol, which blew a good sided hole in the wall behind her, before she ran away screaming her head off, "Shadow Guard! Shadow Guard!"
"Carmelita!" Sly said, hoping that she could see through her anger and not run off after the Contessa, to which he smiled as she turned towards them as the iron barred wall in front of them came down, allowing him to drop down into the room and embrace Carmelita when she ran into his arms.
"Sly! I knew you'd come and save me," Carmelita said, though as Derpy started to attach the Black Mojo Bomb to the Mind Shuffler, however, she couldn't help but embrace Sly as tears started to flow, as she was extremely happy to see him and the rest of the gang again, "That thought kept me from letting the Contessa break me, despite her best efforts to try and turn me into something that I wasn't."
"I couldn't let the love of my life suffer in such a way," Sly stated, to which he kissed Carmelita, letting her know that she was safe now, before he pulled back and led her to the other side of the room, the one that was opposite of the Mind Shuffler, "We're going to blow the Mind Shuffler to pieces, take the Clockwerk Eyes, and then get out of here... and we're sure that the cops will catch the Contessa without needing our assistance."
Bentley didn't give Carmelita time to say anything, as the timer was set and everyone cleared the area near the Mind Shuffler, to which the Black Mojo Bomb detonated and tore the entire machine apart, though while that happened Sly could see the two Eyes separate from each other before they were shrouded.
"Sly, I've located one of the Clockwerk Eyes." Bentley stated, speaking when the smoke cleared because the Eye in question happened to be in front of him, though as the rest of the smoke started to clear he looked for the other one, since it was the other item they had come for, "can you find the other?"
"No worries chaps, it's safely in hand." a voice said, to which they found Neyla standing nearby, how she had gotten in here a question that was on everyone's minds, though strapped to her back was the other Clockwerk Eye, "Thanks for clearing out the Contessa... nothing I did could pry her away from the Clockwerk Eyes. Hmm, one should be enough for the old bird. Ta-ta."
"Bentley! Take the Eye and escape on the blimp." Sly stated, because the moment Neyla had stopped talking she headed through the opening that the Contessa had escaped through, though at the same time he spun his cane as he prepared himself for what he was going to do, "I'm going after Neyla."
"No!" Carmelita said, to which she slipped her pistol into it's holder and withdrew her canes, before pulling out the Cooper Mask that had been placed on them by the Contessa when she was brought here, before slipping it over her face once more, "We'll take care Neyla, together!"
Sly stared at Carmelita for a moment, honestly surprised by the fact that she wanted to help him tackle Neyla, after all the torment that she had been through, but not a few seconds later he smiled and nodded his head, to which the two of them headed through the opening in front of them and followed after Neyla, though as they started to leave Gilda tossed Carmelita a paraglider that they had purchased for her earlier... before escorting Bentley to the blimp so they could get out of here before something else happened. As the two of them headed outside, however, they heard Neyla call out to her bombers and ordered them to focus their attacks on the Contessa's blimp, though at the same time it was clear that Bentley didn't need to worry, as the first bomber that came near the flying vehicle got blasted out of the air by a bolt of lightning that Derpy summoned. From that point forward Sly and Carmelita chased after Neyla, like they had done back in Paris and the jungle, though this time around it was because she had something that they wanted, to which they followed her throughout the castle, dodging her attempts to blow them up by hitting explosive barrels, and followed her whenever she used spider web jump pads... all while making sure to use their paragliders to keep up with her as she used her own to try and get away from them.
They chased her throughout the entirety of the castle, never letting her out of their sights, though when she decided to return to the Re-education Tower, however, she was ensnared in some spider webs and the Eye happened to fall from her back... to which Sly and Carmelita stood in front of her, while Sly claimed the artifact that was in front of them.
"You know, you should really watch where you're going," Sly commented, though at the same time he smiled, because with both Eyes they were one step closer to claiming all the Clockwerk parts that had been taken from the volcano his body had been dumped into, "this place is dangerous."
"Don't you dare!" Neyla shouted, staring at the Eye that Sly now held in his hand, the very one that she had stolen, with a look of rage on her face as her enemies claimed what she was trying to take from the Contessa, "That Eye is MINE! IT'S MINE!"
It was in that instant, where she proclaimed that the Eye belonged to her, that the Contessa, who must have been hiding nearby, revealed herself and smacked the trapped Neyla in the side of her head with one of her legs, knocking her off the area they were standing in, before touching down and staring at them.
"Actually Mr. Cooper, the Clockwerk Eyes belong to me." the Contessa stated, almost as if she believed that her statement would force Sly to willingly hand over the stolen artifact, which at the same time pissed Carmelita off, since it wasn't her item to begin with, "And I want both of them back."
"No way. Do you honestly think that I'm crazy enough to hand this back to you?" Sly asked, though once he said that he remembered all the information that he and the gang had received on the Contessa before they came here, and the bits that Secretary Sen was able to get for Bentley earlier, "Actually, on second thought don't answer that, I really don't want your professional opinion."
"I don't think your crazy, just stupid." the Contessa replied, though at the same time that statement made Carmelita growl as they stared at her, to which the Contessa ignored her even more, "You're an ignorant child playing dress-up in his father's legacy. Oh, I know all about you and the Cooper Clan."
"How dare you say that about the man I love!" Carmelita snapped, causing the Contessa to actually look at her once more, while at the same time she really wanted to beat the stuffing out of her and make sure she was locked up for the rest of her life, "Sly Cooper is one of the greatest thieves in the entire world, a Master Thief that honors and abides by the teachings of the Cooper Clan, who have always stolen from other criminals since the day their line was born, and he is the heir to the Cooper Legacy. Clockwerk has been the ancient enemy of his line for who knows how many years, decades, or even centuries, and they are powered by a soul whose hate is so great that he forced himself into a foul immortality... so when someone says that his parts need to be destroyed, then you listen and obey, or get out of the way!"
"Short-sighted fool!" the Contessa snapped in return, her tone indicating that she wasn't going to listen to what anyone else had to say, though that, in turn, caused both Sly and Carmelita to ready themselves accordingly, since they were sure a fight was going to start any moment now, "I've no interest in your narrow interpretation of morality. I'm above all that, above good and evil."
It was in the instant that followed that the Contessa attacked them, swinging her arms like they were going to cut and wound whoever she was fighting, to which both Sly and Carmelita avoided her arms at all costs and smacked her with their canes, while also smashing the small spiders that she called upon so they didn't get overwhelmed. It seemed that, while the Contessa was skilled enough to fight someone one on one, she had some difficulty going after two people, almost like she had a hard time keeping track of what they were doing at any given moment, but at the same time Sly and Carmelita weren't fooled by the act. The Contessa was smart and was likely trying to lure them into a false sense of security so she could smack them and take the Eye from Sly, though after everything she had been through, and all the torment she had suffered, Carmelita wasn't going to back down and let this witch have her way. Together the two of them hit the Contessa with all their strength, dodged her attacks to the best of their abilities, and, when the time came, they slammed their canes into her chest and knocked her backwards... where she fell back onto the ground and looked like she was defeated, though at the same time neither one of them lowered their guard, not around an opponent like this.
"Enough... you've shown me the error of my ways." the Contessa said, forcing herself to sound like someone who was actually defeated, though at the same time neither Sly nor Carmelita got close to her, since they were sure that this was a trap that was just waiting to be sprung.
"Sorry, but we're not falling for your tricks." Carmelita stated, to which she and Sly raised their canes and beckoned to the Contessa, as they knew that she was far from defeated, as she had gone down way to easily for someone that had stolen one of the Clockwerk parts.
The Contessa growled as she picked herself and started to run away again, though as she did so Sly took the Eye that he had picked up and tossed it into the air, where Derpy flew through the area and snatched it the moment it left Sly's hand, before taking it back to the blimp that was heading away from the town. The moment the Eye was secure, just like the other one, he glanced at Carmelita for a moment and nodded his head, to which the two of them chased after the Contessa, intending to take her down and make her pay for everything that she had done to the Cooper Gang. Fortunately she hadn't gotten far, as she was standing at the same place that Sly had used the paraglider to reach the blimp, though as they stepped onto the roof the Contessa growled at them and started the battle anew, though without one of the Eyes to aid her, or even both of them, both he and Carmelita knew that she didn't stand a chance against the two of them. Despite her best efforts the Contessa found that the two of them were simply too much for her to handle, though what was interesting was that Sly, at one point, backed off and let Carmelita fight alone... and yet, even with it being one on one, the unbridled anger that was in Carmelita's eyes, and was pushing her forward, made her a force to be reckoned with.
In the end Carmelita used both the tools of a thief, her own Cooper canes, and the tool of a cop, her own shock pistol, and knocked the Contessa out, though as she cooled off, and finally regained control of herself, she fell into Sly's arms as they waited for the others to arrive... though when they did Carmelita smiled at the gang that had gone through so many obstacles just to save her, even if it meant letting the Clockwerk Eyes be taken by the Contessa if necessary, but she was happy the gang had succeeded in saving her and claiming another piece of the ancient owl.
As they landed near where the van was located, however, Sly and Carmelita got as close as they dared so they could see the outcome of the 'Neyla vs Contessa' war, where they found that Neyla must have called some cops the moment the assault was underway. From what they could tell the Contessa was arrested right then and there, and would no doubt be brought to trial for the crimes she committed while working at Interpol, as well as the fact that she had gone against one of the Secretaries that governed Interpol. Unfortunately for them, though more so for Carmelita, Director Barkley was there and he actually promoted Neyla, who was called the 'Hero of Prague' by some, to the rank of Captain, giving her a shining badge to wear as well. Another bit of bad news was that Barkley had an order for Neyla, one that was the capture of both the Cooper Gang and Carmelita, meaning that he was either really stupid to disobey Secretary Sen, or he was bold enough to think that Neyla could capture them twice, though it was plainly clear that he no longer viewed Carmelita in the same light that he had in the time before the Clockwerk parts were stolen.
In the end the gang, now fully whole for the first time since they defeated Rajan in the jungle ruins, departed from Prague and headed for somewhere where they could hide and help Carmelita recover from her torment... and, as Murray drove away from the castle, Sly sat in the back with Carmelita, silently wondering what it was going to take to help her get her life back in order before Neyla shattered her career beyond repair.
The first thing that Sly and the others did was get into contact with Secretary Sen the moment they stopped for the night, where Bentley sent him an email explaining what had happened at the Contessa's castle and that they had managed to save Carmelita from a terrible fate. Fortunately, when morning arrived, there was a response email from Sen that told them of a safe house they could use for some time, to help Carmelita recover a little before they moved after Jean Bison, though at the same time he also informed them that he was sending in an expert, one that was going to check Carmelita's mind and make sure that the Contessa hadn't done anything to her. For the most part the only thing that Carmelita could tell them was that the Contessa forced her to eat foods that were covered in spice, the same illegal spice that she used on the inmates in her prison, though Sly was quick to tell her that, once she had a rage induced episode, which she had against the Contessa, the spice would be cleansed from her body on its own. Still, despite that fact, Carmelita spent the majority of the ride to the safe house cuddling with Sly, not wanting to let go of him since their separation, though at the same time Sly wasn't about to complain, since he had been hoping for this some day... though, in all honesty, he had hoped that it would have been under different circumstances.
Along the way to the safe house Carmelita heard the tale of how Bentley, Derpy, Gilda, and Diz broke Sly and Murray out of their own cells, which allowed her to understand why Diz was still in his female form, something that she was still trying to reverse and wasn't having any luck... though eventually they switched to a different topic, since speaking of what happened to them was a touchy subject still and it only reminded Carmelita of what she had been through.
When they arrived at the safe house they found that it was large enough to accommodate all of them and had an area where Murray could hide the van for some time, to which he parked it and they unloaded their gear, preparing themselves for the arrival of Sen and his expert. Thirty minutes after their arrival, however, they found that Secretary Sen's expert was none other than Mz. Ruby, who immediately told them that, after the time she spent with Derpy, Gilda, and Diz, training them in the art of wielding magic, she had decided to turn over a new leaf. Carmelita was a little nervous, since she was entrusting the safety of her mind to someone who had stolen the Thievius Raccoonus, but Secretary Sen said that Mz. Ruby's gesture was real and that she wasn't faking any of it, to which she nodded and headed into the room that the Voodoo Priestess wanted to work in. At the same time, however, Sen pulled Sly and the others aside and shared some additional news with them, that the Contessa would be receiving a life's sentence, with little chance of parole, and that all her assets were being claimed as they spoke... meaning that, by messing with the Cooper Gang, the life she had built for herself was gone, everything she owned was gone, and everything that she ever cared for was gone.
Sly didn't know if he should feel pleased or displeased with the outcome, since they had pretty much destroyed the Contessa's life for messing with their gang and she might even be trying to beg for something, anything, that would make everything better... but, since she had ignored a direct order from a Secretary, there was nothing he or his gang could do in this situation, as the Contessa had brought this upon herself, and this was the fate that was awaiting Neyla as well.
"Sly, would you spare me a moment?" Sen asked, surprising the group for a moment, though after a few seconds Sly nodded and followed him outside, leaving the others to discuss what was going to happen next, when they went after Jean Bison and his Clockwerk parts.
"Sir, is something wrong?" Sly inquired, though while he knew that there was already a number of things that were wrong at the moment, with the way that Carmelita was being treated being at the top of his list, he had to wonder if something else had happened.
"It's about Neyla," Sen replied, making sure that he was out of Carmelita's earshot, because he didn't want to cause her any unnecessary pain and was only telling Sly because he was the person that cared for Carmelita will all his heart, and who would do anything to cheer her up, "I'm afraid that, given all of the events that have transpired in the last week or two, that got something terrible planned for Carmelita, something worse than what the Contessa did to her, yet Barkley insists that she's unavailable and is currently in the field. I heard from one of Carmelita's co-workers that Neyla asked them a bunch of questions and recorded their answers... so be careful the next time you see her out in the field."
"We will sir," Sly said, though he wondered what Neyla was even attempting at the moment, and he was sure that the Secretary was thinking the same thing, before he turned towards Sen, "If we find out what Neyla was planning with those questions, we'll send the information to you immediately."
Secretary Sen nodded his head, pleased that Sly was going to do everything in his power to save Carmelita from being hurt by Neyla again, because Carmelita was, in his opinion, one of the greatest cops of her generation, especially with her talent to mimic and learn the Cooper techniques from simply watching them in action. Even if Carmelita never caught the Cooper Gang, which she'd never be able to do unless they broke the rules, she could use those techniques to help her catch other criminals, but right now that bright future was in jeopardy because of a corrupt Constable and another corrupt Inspector. He needed the Cooper Gang to get to the bottom of why the Klaww Gang wanted the Clockwerk parts and the purpose behind their spice operation, though something told him that there was something sinister going on here... and, if his feelings were correct, it had to do with the resurrection of Clockwerk, something that he hoped he was wrong about.
After his talk with Secretary Sen, and hearing what he had to say, Sly and the gang spent an entire week in the safe house, letting Mz. Ruby examine Carmelita and her mind, though at the same time he asked Sen if it was okay for them to leave the Clockwerk parts here, under the watchful eyes of people he trusted. Fortunately the Secretary agreed and even helped unload the various parts into a room of the safe house, where he would call in some backup once the gang had left for the next member of the Klaww Gang. When the seventh day arrived, however, Mz. Ruby had good news for all of them, Carmelita was perfectly fine, much to the joy of the entire gang, with Sly being the happiest of them all, while making Sen happy that nothing had happened to her as well. Whatever the Contessa had been trying to do to Carmelita hadn't taken a hold and there weren't any triggers that would cause her to change, which was good news for the gang when they heard it, though as the day moved on Carmelita remained in her room for some time while the others gathered their gear as they prepared to depart for Canada.
Sly wondered what was she thinking about, as there were a number of things that could be going through her mind at the moment, though when Bentley said that they were getting ready to leave the safe house Sly knocked on the door and found that it was open... though when he entered the room, however, he found that Carmelita wasn't wearing her Inspector attire anymore, rather she was wearing her thief attire and her mask.
"Carmelita, is something wrong?" Sly asked, as while he knew that Secretary Sen approved of Carmelita doing this, being a thief part of the time to assist with recovering the Clockwerk parts, he wondered why she was choosing this over her cop attire.
"No... I'm just eager to get back to work." Carmelita replied, to which she packed away her cop attire and her shock pistol, before she picked up her pack and walked out of the room, where she made sure that Sly was walking beside her the entire time, "Come on, let's go see what Jean Bison is up to and take his Clockwerk parts back."
Sly smiled a little, as it appeared that having an objective in mind was helping her improve, to which he walked alongside Carmelita and they climbed into the van without leaving anything behind, though once they were ready Murray got underway and they left the safe house behind as they headed towards where Jean Bison was located.
Based on the information that Secretary Sen had given them, and the trail of spice shipments themselves, the gang made their way to Nunavut Bay, Canada, which happened to be the secret hub of Jean Bison's shipping empire and, more importantly, their next target. Thanks to their information they knew that, as a young man, Jean Bison trekked across Canada to strike it rich during the Gold Rush of 1852, where he was an avid prospector and took some chances, though one ended with him being buried alive in an avalanche. Miraculously, the quick freeze kept him alive, and one hundred and twenty years later, thanks to global warming, he thawed out of his icy prison and returned to civilization, though he kept the mindset of his time, which included taming the 'Wild North', which Bentley described as damming every river and chopping down all the trees with progress delivered at the sharp end of an ax. Bentley was also able to determine that shipping spice for the Klaww Gang proved a lucrative way for the man to bankroll his one-man war against nature... and yet the gang actually felt a little sorry for him. Jean Bison, based on his appearance and habits, was just a normal guy from the 1850s, where back in his day he would have been a hero, but today, unfortunately, he was labeled as a villain.
Despite those facts, however, the gang knew that he had more than his fair share of the Clockwerk parts, though Bentley had no idea what a low tech guy like Jean Bison was doing with robot parts... and it was only a matter of time until the gang figured out what he was going with whatever parts he had taken.
When they arrived at their destination they found a building on the pier, the only one as it turned out, that had more than enough room for them to set up their base without Jean Bison's guards figuring out that they were there, but, at the same time, they needed some information on the area before they did any major objectives. As such Bentley had Gilda, Derpy, and Diz go out and survey the area for a few minutes, make notes of the major structures that were around them, and anything else of importance, while he, Sly, Carmelita, and Murray made sure the safe house was ready for their operation. After ten or twenty minutes the magical trio returned to the safe house and gave Bentley the pictures that served as his notes for the area, which he compared to the last map of the area that he had uncovered and, after setting everything up, he declared that they were now ready for the first mission against Jean Bison, to which he turned towards Sly and Carmelita for a moment.
"Despite not knowing much about this area, before this point, I did have a lead on the Clockwerk parts," Bentley said, where he focused on Sly and Carmelita, as this was the best time to let Carmelita get back into the action and remember what she had been doing before Neyla's betrayal, "Sly, Carmelita, are you two up for a small trek through the wilderness and the cabins around the area?"
"Sure, I'm eager to recover the other Clockwerk parts," Carmelita replied, as she wanted to put the torment she had been through behind her, and that meant that she needed to focus her mind on something else, to which she stood up and turned towards Sly, "Sly, are you ready to get moving?"
"Whenever you're ready to leave." Sly said, to which he picked up his cane and smiled at her, because he was happy to see that the love of his life was much better than when they had rescued her from the Contessa, and the gang was glad to have her back at long last.
Together Sly and Carmelita walked out of the safe house and headed into the small town that was almost right outside their base, to which they snuck into the town and noticed that the guards that were wandering around were mountain goats, gooses, moose, and some moles that hid beneath the ground. What was interesting was when Sly spotted a treasure pocket, from one of the moose guards, and picked his pocket, where he recovered a solid gold bar that surprised both of them for a moment, though instead of letting themselves be seen they disappeared into the shadows and continued towards their destination. Along the way Carmelita, in order to remember some of her moves that she had learned from watching Sly, used the environment to make sure she wasn't rusty with her skills and Sly made sure that she was as skilled as thought she was. At the same time she picked a few pockets, to be sure that she remembered that teaching as well, though she was surprised when she picked a ruby from one of the pockets that she picked, adding it to the treasure that she and Sly were already collecting, so Bentley could sell it when he decided to sell stuff off.
Once Carmelita was done practicing her skills, and remembered all the stuff that she had seen in the past, they headed over to the mission area and found that it was in the middle of a river, on a stone that was below a cabin, though when they came to a stop they both pulled out their binocucoms and let Bentley talk to them.
"That cabin may seem rustic, but don't be fooled, it's the control center for Jean Bison's train empire." Bentley told them, though at the same time they focused on the cabin in question, as it was one of the key locations that Gilda, Derpy, and Diz had taken a picture of during their survey of the area, "I need the two of you to sneak inside and raid his files, as you're sure to find out where he keeps his Clockwerk parts."
"Ransacking his files doesn't sound hard, now climbing up a sheer rock wall..." Carmelita said, staring at the rock wall that was in front of them, because she was sure that there was a way for them to climb it, but based on her incomplete knowledge of the Cooper Techniques she had no idea which skill they needed in this situation, "that'll be a challenge."
"The two of you are in luck." Bentley replied, as he had figured out something from the information he had been given, along with the pieces that he was able to gleam from the pictures from earlier, "Before Jean Bison took over this used to be a popular destination for rock climbers. Some of their old wall hooks are still around."
"You know, based on the other techniques, I'm guessing that we just need to jump and latch onto the hook." Sly said, as it seemed like common sense when he thought about it, though at the same time Carmelita seemed to be nodding her head, as she understood what he was talking about.
"That's correct." Bentley stated, as he was pleased that his simple explanation on the subject was more than enough to get Sly to understand what he was talking about, while also giving Carmelita a chance to see something new and put her mind on something that wasn't what happened to her, "And remember to lean back before you spring off the hook... you'll get more altitude."
"Thanks for the tip," Carmelita said, though hearing that there were hooks all over the place, and she could see a few from where she was standing, meant that things would be easier for them once they got moving and practiced this skill a few times while they were at it, "We'll be sure to give it a try."
Sly and Carmelita walked over to the rock wall that was in front of them, where they found no guards in their immediate vicinity, before Sly latched onto the hook with his cane as he jumped on the wall, where he leaned back a little and sprung himself forward. Fortunately he was able to grab the second hook that was above him and repeated the process, allowing him to reach the top of the rock wall in moments, much to his delight since he had figured out the technique rather easily, before he turned around and beckoned for Carmelita to join him. He then watched as Carmelita latched onto the hook and propelled herself forward, along with using the second hook to reach where he was standing, to which she smiled at him as she walked over to the cabin's entrance, where Sly smiled and followed her, so that way they could enter the building together. When they entered the cabin, however, they found the Klaww Gang member they were here to rob standing at the back of the cabin, staring at the flames of his fire for a moment, while at the same time a speakerphone was sitting nearby... though, to be sure that they weren't seen, they carefully hid themselves behind some stacked up spice barrels and waited to see if their target had any information for them.
"Jackpot!" Carmelita whispered, speaking softly while they stared at the person that was their target, because she knew that the proper course of action was to make sure that neither of them were caught, otherwise Jean Bison would likely raise the alarm and they'd have to come back later, "Sly, that's Jean Bison!"
"Yeah, it is." Sly said, agreeing with Carmelita, though at the same time he honestly wasn't expecting their target to be here, especially since he thought that he would have been somewhere else, overseeing his part of the operations that the Klaww Gang put him in charge of, "It looks like he didn't notice us come in."
"Let's just stay out of sight for now and take some pictures of his train routes," Carmelita stated, as she had shifted her gaze to the upper part of the cabin and found three picture frames up there, which had to be what Bentley wanted them to find at the moment, "they should help Bentley narrow our search for Jean Bison's share of the Clockwerk parts."
"Sounds like a plan." Sly said, not surprised that Carmelita, who had spent her time learning how to be a thief by simply watching how he and the others operated, had come up with a good idea for the beginning of their operation, but at the same time they remained silent as the speakerphone came online.
Hello, Arpeggio here. a voice said, though both Sly and Carmelita stiffened, because they weren't actually expecting Jean Bison to be speaking with the other remaining member of the Klaww Gang, though at the same time they remained silent as they listened to what was going on.
"Salutations, Mr. Arpeggio." Jean Bison said, though at the same time he started moving around the room, which meant that it was even more dangerous for them to move, especially since he was likely looking around the room while he walked a little, "Y'all got time to shoot the breeze?"
Of course, for you, Jean, always, Arpeggio replied, where they heard a slight bit of annoyance in his voice, indicating that something was bothering him, though it didn't seem like Jean Bison heard it, as he continued walking, though must we communicate through that dreadful speakerphone?
"Yeah, I can think better while my legs move," Jean Bison commented, where the duo believed that it was more because of his upbringing and not wanting to completely bow his head to the modern world that he had found himself in when the ice thawed, "pumps blood to your brain."
Yes, of course, one must keep blood in one's brain, Arpeggio said, agreeing with what Jean Bison was saying, though at the same time the way he said the word 'brain' told Sly and Carmelita exactly which part of Clockwerk the final member of the Klaww Gang had taken, but do tell. Is there some pressing matter you'd like to discuss?
"First off, are you still coming on schedule to get that Northern Light Battery?" Jean Bison asked, though as he continued to walk around the room Carmelita carefully slipped her canes into their holders and withdrew a pad that she could write on, something she had taken from the safe house Secretary Sen had set up for them, and carefully wrote down 'Northern Light Battery' with a question mark at the end.
Yes, we're well underway. Arpeggio replied, though now he sounded pleased about something, where the shift in his tone told the duo that they might discuss their plan together and that it would be wise for Carmelita to write everything down before they got the pictures they needed, My blimp should arrive at the end of the week.
"Bullseye." Jean Bison said, his tone revealing that he was extremely pleased about the situation that they found themselves in, while at the same time preparing himself for another part of the conversation, "For second, when are you going to give me a look-see at that Clockwerk Brain of yours? I'd sure like to buy it off ya."
Bison, you covetous troglodyte. Arpeggio replied, though where the duo thought he'd be upset by the statement it actually sounded like they had this type of conversation before and he found it amusing for some odd reason, You've already got the lion's share of the parts. Would you take my meager portion of the robotic bird for your own and strip me of all my earthly pleasures?
"Easy there, partner, you're all up in a lather." Jean Bison answered, once more confirming that this was something that they did whenever they spoke to each other, which only made Sly really worry about what the low-tech Jean Bison would have done if he had his hands on all of the Clockwerk parts, "It's just that I found some real use for the Clockwerk parts I got. Why, I put three of them in the engines of my best trains. With those robotic doohickeys feeding the fire them trains will run all night and all day. I call them my Iron Horses. Of course, I gotta keep the plans hidden... stuffed them in my three trophy bass."
Sounds like you're making capital use of your share of the robotic loot, Arpeggio said, though at the same time Sly was angry, because while he didn't like Clockwerk, for what he did to his family, he also didn't like how the Klaww Gang was treating the robotic owl's body, but for now, the Clockwerk Brain stays with me on the blimp. Although, when I arrive to pick up the Northern Light Battery I might be persuaded to give you a peek.
"That'll do fine." Jean Bison stated, clearly showing that all he wanted was to see the part once more, even though his real reason was because he wanted to take it and add it to his collection, "By the way, you ready to giddy-up into Pari for the final hoedown?"
Yes, the blimp's hypnotism wavelengths conform to the specs drawn up by the Contessa. Arpeggio said, to which the duo paid close attention to what was going on, as this was something they were going to be interested in sharing with the rest of the gang, not to mention Secretary Sen when, And Dimitri, before his unfashionable capture, did a bang-up job of distributing spice throughout his nightclub.
"Sounds like all you're missing is some northern light electricity." Jean Bison stated, though it was at that point that he came to a stop in front of the fireplace again and stared at the fire, showing that he had done enough walking around for the moment, but at the same time Sly and Carmelita took the change and climbed up into the ceiling area before their foe decided to turn around.
You're correct, sir. Arpeggio said, where his tone revealed that he enjoyed talking about the plant that their gang had set into motion, even if Sly and the others had disrupted it a bit along the way, Yours is the final piece to the puzzle. The missing link. Once the battery is aboard, nothing will stand in the Klaww Gang's way. Paris will be ours!
"Yeah, yeah, okay." Jean Bison replied, clearly pleased with the answer that he had been given, before he turned around and started heading for the door of the cabin, indicating that he was heading outside, "So, I guess I'll be seeing you at the end of the week?"
Right. Arpeggio said, his tone revealing that the conversation was at it's end, though there was one thing he needed to say before the connection was terminated, Farewell, Bison. Stiff upper lip. Ta-ta.
Sly and Carmelita remained in the ceiling for a few moments, watching Jean Bison open the door of the cabin and walk outside, though they stayed that way for a minute or two, to be sure that he wasn't coming back in immediately, before they dropped down and got back together.
"Well, this isn't good." Sly commented, as he still couldn't believe that the Klaww Gang was trying to take over Paris, but, at the same time, he had the feeling that there was more to the puzzle than what they had heard, because that didn't sound like an endgame goal.
"No, it's not." Carmelita said, though as she stared at the door she remembered what the Contessa had bragged to her about, when she was tormenting her, before her eyes lit up and she turned towards Sly, "What did Neyla say about the Clockwerk Eye she had tried to take? Something about one should be enough for the old bird?"
"Yeah, something like... that..." Sly replied, though at the same time he realized something, which he suspected that Carmelita had picked up on based on what she was saying, before he brought his palm to his face, "Oh my god, does that mean that..."
"If we're right, and I think we're right, then Neyla's been lying to everyone the entire time," Carmelita said, though even as she said that she really hoped that she was wrong, but her gut feeling hadn't been wrong before and she wasn't about to question it now, "She's been trying to recollect the Clockwerk parts, not to lock them away, like I would have done, but to put them back together and reforge the ancient owl's body, just like Secretary Sen feared that they would try to do when the parts were originally stolen. The way the Contessa spoke about Neyla at times makes me think that she's actually a secret member of the Klaww Gang, and my tormentor even said that it was possible to make people hate each other, given the right frequencies..."
"Arpeggio's going to try and resurrect Clockwerk." Sly commented, dread filling his voice for a moment, because now the entire plan that Jean Bison and Arpeggio had talked about was now covered in a sinister shroud, though at the same time he seriously hoped that they were wrong, "We have to tell Secretary Sen the news, because Arpeggio needs the pieces that we've taken from the other members of the Klaww Gang... we have been collecting everything that he requires to put Clockwerk back together. Neyla, she's been playing us the entire time... and yet, despite what they're planning, they don't seem to realize that Clockwerk's not gone, he's just been patiently waiting for the day when he's put back together."
"Sly, we'll have Secretary Sen send a convoy to pick up the parts from the safe house he let us stay in and move them to a more secure location," Carmelita said, as she wasn't about to let all of their hard work go to waste, before she waved a hand at the picture frames that were around them and the fish that was on the wall, "but right now we have to make sure that we get the parts that Jean Bison has... and then we can focus on stopping Arpeggio's plan."
Sly nodded and together they took some pictures of the routes that the various 'Iron Horses' traveled along, giving Bentley an idea of when they needed to strike each one of them and what they needed to do to get inside each train, before Sly claimed the blueprint from the bass' mouth. With that in hand the two of them headed outside, where they found that Jean Bison had left the area, to which they made their way over to the second cabin they had seen when they were walking through town, though when they arrived they found that the duck guards were bored out of their minds and most of them happened to be sleeping. While Sly went and grabbed the blueprints, however, Carmelita approached the safe and had Bentley give her the code, as Gilda, Derpy, and Diz had found the bottles around the base while they were flying around the area, and she input the code, 1-2-9, and took the blueprints for a music box gadget from the safe, before she and Sly headed outside once more. From there it was a simple matter to head to the final cabin, where a bunch of moose guards were stationed, but they were able to get a direct path to the bass and claimed the blueprints before they headed back to the safe house.
As they did that both Sly and Carmelita spotted Gilda flying over to the satellite dish that was at the top of the tallest peak in the area, where they knew that Bentley was likely getting the GPS of the trains as they spoke... to which they headed into town and made their way to the safe house.
When everyone was together again, and Bentley had a few minutes to look over the information they had given him, after sending an email to Secretary Sen detailing everything Sly and Carmelita heard in Jean Bison's cabin, he was able to figure out that their foe had both of Clockwerk's Lungs, his Stomach, and all six of his deadly Talons. Since three of those parts happened to be inside Jean Bison's trains, his Iron Horses, they needed to one of three things; the first being using the gas in the air, provided by their target's operations, to make bombs and blow the lids off the cabooses of the trains, the second being Derpy using the lightning to strike them, which would be odd for Jean Bison when he heard about it, or figure out some way to boost the power of Carmelita's pistol and use that to blow the locks off. As such Carmelita pulled out her pistol and handed it over, knowing that Bentley would be able to put it back to normal once it was no longer needed to blow the locks off the cabooses, while at the same time she used the downtime to think about what she and Sly had figured out... before deciding that Arpeggio needed to be stopped, something that the entire gang agreed on when they heard what they had found out.
About ten minutes later, with the pistol ungraded to a point where it could blow the locks off without overheating, even though it was recommended that she wait a minute or two between shots, Carmelita headed outside, alone since she needed quite to be accurate this time around, and climbed to the best vantage point where she could see all three of the train tracks and the trains that used them.
When she reached the peak that the satellite was sitting on, which Gilda had fiddled with a few minutes ago, she pulled out the pistol and focused on the tracks that were all around her, keeping her eyes on the trains as they moved through the town and the wilderness that was around them. A moment later she zeroed in on one of her targets and blew the lock off the caboose, though as she let the weapon cool down she kept her eyes on the other two trains, keeping their locks in her line of sight, and, when the pistol was ready, she fired again and blew the second lock to pieces. About two minutes later, after keeping her eyes on the third train, she blew the lock off that one as well, before she sighed and put her weapon away, though as she started to stand back up she heard the sound of someone stepping through the snow behind her... though, when she turned around, anger rushed to the surface as she spotted Neyla standing behind her.
"Carmelita Cooper, I should have known that you'd be here." Neyla commented, though while it was clear that she wasn't using her whip at the moment, as it was strapped to her side like it was when she wasn't using it, Carmelita didn't trust the people that handed her to the Contessa.
"It's Carmelita Fox!" Carmelita stated, but she wasn't going to give Neyla the satisfaction that she liked hearing Sly's last name after her name, as, now that they were boyfriend and girlfriend, she often imagined being back of both his gang and his family, before she pulled the pistol out again, "Now then, why don't you just stand still and let me take you out here and now? I'm sure that Secretary Sen would like to have a word with you."
"Please, you can't fire that thing for another minute or two, and I'll be long gone by then," Neyla replied, to which she reached into her pack and tossed something to Carmelita, which, when she caught it, was a computer disk that was being held in a protective container, "I just thought that you might want to see what's on that disk, that's all. I'll see you around, Carmelita Cooper."
Carmelita growled as Neyla disappeared, angry that she missed her chance to take her down, but once she discovered that Neyla was gone she collected her things and headed back to the safe house, where she told the others that she had done what she set out to do. She also informed them that they might need to be careful, since it appeared that Neyla might be here to collect Jean Bison's parts as well, before showing them the disk that Neyla had tossed her, which Bentley slipped into his computer and showed it's contents to her. What Carmelita, and the others, watched was Neyla when she was asking the rest of her co-workers their opinions on Carmelita, after the Contessa had captured her and her relationship with Sly was revealed to all of them, something that she immediately dreaded the moment she heard what Neyla was asking. What followed was a number of hurtful comments from those that she had considered her friends, as none of the people Neyla had asked had even considered the possibility that Carmelita was innocent of the charges that had been brought against her... and, when Neyla made the comment that someone thought there was the possibility that she might actually be innocent, they were quick to get angry and say that it wasn't possible for her to be innocent.
In the end Bentley couldn't let her see all of it, he honestly couldn't, and he ejected the disk from the computer, before Sly shattered it into a thousand pieces with his intense rage, as he couldn't believe that those cops could have been played by Neyla and the Contessa, before comforting Carmelita once more... and promising his crying girlfriend that they would find some way to clear her name, because she deserved better than what she was getting. When she was done the gang would continue the operation, but for now he needed to comfort her, and that was all that Sly could think about as he held Carmelita close to him.
It took a few moments for Carmelita to calm down, after hearing the recording of her co-workers telling Neyla that they all believed that she wasn't innocent and that she deserved what the Contessa had done to her, which revealed that it had been made before the Contessa's truth had been revealed, but in the end Carmelita pulled herself out of Sly's embrace and said that she was ready to continue the operation. Bentley then nodded and told them that the best way for them to get the Clockwerk Lungs and Stomach was to hit all three trains at the same time, meaning that the security on them, in terms of who was supposed to be on guard anyway, would be low enough so that they wouldn't have a lot of resistance in the way of their goals. The first thing Bentley wanted them to do, before they actually attacked the Iron Horses, was strange, as he needed Murray and Diz to find a pair of juvenile bear cubs and place them in a metal container that a hand car was trapped in, as that would help them catch up with the third and final Iron Horse, the one that Sly, Carmelita, Gilda, and Murray would be tackling when the time was right. He then revealed that he and Diz would, after the hand car was freed, tackle the first Iron Horse and claim it's Clockwerk part, then they would fly over to the second one and see if Derpy needed assistance in taking the second part... allowing the other four some time to tackle the third Iron Horse and take the last part.
"That's an impressive plan, Bentley," Carmelita commented, though she had a smile on her face, because she had to imagine the look on Jean Bison's face when they robbed him of all three of his Clockwerk parts at the same time, as he was going to be furious about it, before she thought of something else, "but what will we do if Neyla tries to interfere?"
"We'll knock her into the snow and leave her be, for now." Gilda said, flexing her claws for a moment, knowing that their focus should be on the Clockwerk parts, but at the same time she had to imagine what it would be like to beat Neyla up and let Secretary Sen throw her behind bars.
"We should be able to get aboard all three Iron Horses the next time they come by the town," Bentley stated, though as he looked at the timetable in front of him, which he had set up once he had all the information about the routes the trains took, he knew that they had an hour, maybe a little less, before that happened, "though we really should get started before we end up missing one of them."
The rest of the gang nodded and moved out, where Bentley headed over to a rock platform that would allow him to join down on Iron Horse number 1, while at the same time Murray and Diz separated from each other, each going after one of the two bear cubs that they needed to get the metallic cage open, allowing the others to stand on a nearby roof as they waited for that part of the operation to be complete. As it turned out the first bear cub, the one that Murray decided to go after, was located near the cabin on the right side of Jean Bison's base, one of the three that Sly and Carmelita had gone into earlier, though not a few minutes later Murray came running into town and carefully set the sub he was carrying in the cage. Diz, on the other hand, had to venture into the nearby lair that the bears called home, which was perfect for her since she had her invisibility spell, though not moments later she flew out of the cave with the bear cub in hand, which she dropped off in the cage and landed near the others so they could watch their handiwork. As Bentley predicted the two juvenile bear cubs attacked each other the moment they saw each other, leading to a fight inside the cage, one that caused the mother bear to come running... and, with one mighty swing of her incredibly powerful claws, she tore the cage apart and freed her cubs from their confinement.
The gang then watched as the mother bear huffed and shuffled back towards the cave that it called home, where the two cubs growled for a moment before they followed after their mother, who also crushed one of the guards on her way out of the town... though the gang was fortunate that they had chosen to remain on the roofs where it was safe, as none of them wanted to get in the way of that sort of power. With that done Diz flew over to where Bentley was standing and waited for their target to arrive, while at the same time Derpy positioned herself in another prime area that would allow her to jump onto the second Iron Horse, while leaving the others to get ready for when the third one arrived. It was a daring and dangerous plan, as they weren't taking the time to see what sort of defenses these trains had, but with the fact that Arpeggio wanted all of the parts for himself, to resurrect Clockwerk for some unknown reason, they had to act fast, take Jean Bison's parts, and then hide them somewhere safe, so that way they could tackle Arpeggio without worrying that he got his hands on the parts they had already stolen.
"Here comes Iron Horse number 1." Bentley said, seeing the train coming along the tracks, while at the same time snapping everyone out of their thoughts, as they had all been thinking about how well Neyla had played them and Interpol at the same time, "Diz and I will go in, bypass the guards, and get the Clockwerk Lung that's attached to the front of the train, though while we do that you guys will need to move in and attack your Iron Horses at the same time."
The rest of the gang announced their agreement to what Bentley said, as they were all ready for this heist to happen, before he and Diz jumped onto the top of the caboose for the first Iron Horse, where they opened the lid and jumped down into the car itself. Once they were inside the caboose both of them moved into the car ahead of them and noticed that there were three laser walls in front of them, each of them moving in a certain pattern, though at the same time they were able to carefully make their way through the walls when an opening revealed itself, allowing them to make their way through the car until they were on the other side. The next car they entered had some floor lasers, both still type and moving type, but at the same time that didn't pose a challenge for either of them, as while Diz was able to simply fly over the obstacle Bentley was able to figure out the pattern and jump through it before he met up with his companion again, where they moved forward and continued their mission. Fortunately they didn't have to go through the next car that was in front of them, rather they used a jump pad to get to the top of the car and walked over the top, where they dropped down into the next area, a cargo area, and finally found some guards patrolling the area.
Bentley considered himself lucky at the moment, because Diz could expand the shroud he created and turn them both invisible at the same time, to the eyes of those around them, allowing Bentley to silently and stealthily put each of the guards to sleep so they could pass them without hurting them. When they needed to jump up to the top of the car in front of them Diz removed the Shroud of Invisibility for a moment and let Bentely get to the area above them, where he caught up with him and covered them once more, allowing Bentley to knock their opponents asleep before they even knew what had hit them. From there they dropped down onto another cargo car and continued moving, using Diz's shroud as they climbed up some cargo boxes and moved themselves behind the guards that were in front of them, not even bothering to take them out, before entering another car with moving floor lasers. It didn't take them long to get through that obstacle, though once they were out of that car Diz found that the next one was yet another cargo car and that she could simply get them on top of the cargo containers to survey what was in front of them... which was two guards that he could get around with ease, and that's what she did as she grabbed onto Bentley and pulled him to the very front of the train.
The moment Diz brought them to the front of the train, and landed in front of the engine, Bentley stepped forward and examined the large robotic Lung that was sort of attached to the engine, which he was able to remove with ease and Diz, seeing that they were ready, grabbed Bentley before taking off, letting the Iron Horse slowly loose power as they sought out Derpy and the Iron Horse she was taking on.
Derpy's plan was simple, she waited for Iron Horse number 2 to come rolling into town, landed on top of it's caboose, and then waited for it to head out into the open area, where she could take to the sky and fly to the front, which sounded really simple when she thought about it. What she wasn't expecting, however, was that when she moved over the first car in front of the caboose that it deployed rocket launchers that were designed to take out intruders, be it walking on the roof or enemies that had the potential to fly, like an RC chopper or herself. As such her first course of action was to avoid the incoming attacks before she directed her power at one of the square rocket launchers, blowing the entire thing to pieces in the process, but that didn't mean that she was out of the woods just yet, especially with a second one still operational and ready to hurt her. The moment the two of them were taken care of she started to move up towards the next car in line, where she had to contend with a number of RC planes that were designed to bombard a target until they collapsed and some RC choppers, ones that were different looking than Bentley's device, though she discovered that however was using them was definitely a skilled pilot.
Despite the manner of skill that the enemy pilots had Derpy was better than them, because she could fly circles around the remote controlled toys and broke all of them before they could even hurt her, allowing her to move forward and see what the next car had to offer.
The next car, as she discovered, had four square rocket launchers that were deployed the moment she was above the car in question and they all fired at her, forcing her to dodge their attacks once more as she started blasting them to pieces, though she hoped this was the last car that had them since she didn't have time to waste on destroying the toys of the guards. Of course as she moved forward she had to contend with a number of planes and choppers that the pilots were sending at her, almost like they were using everything in their arsenal to stop her in her tracks, but she prepared her power and knocked them all out of the sky, blowing them to pieces in the process, before she flapped her wings and moved forward once more. She wasn't surprised when the next car sent a wave of planes and had two square rocket launchers deploy when she arrived, though she did take them out rather quickly since none of them were actually a threat to her, but as she attempted to move forward, and started to fly over the next car, she found an even larger amount of planes heading for her, trying to hit her, though she simply tore them apart like all the other toys she had broken so far since she started this mission. That was followed by what had to be the last of their aerial defenses, a few choppers and two more square rocket launchers on the last car before the engine, though she smashed them all with several blasts of her inner power and let out a sigh of relief when she found that she was no longer under attack.
"Derpy, do you acquire any assistance?" Bentley asked, indicating that he and Diz must have already finished with the first Iron Horse, which had to have been the most vulnerable of the three trains and meant that they were lucky, though that also meant that they must have the Clockwerk Lung they were after.
"No, I'm just finishing up here," Derpy replied, to which she landed between the engine and the car behind it, before she walked up to where the second Lung was resting and a smile appeared on her face, "We're extremely lucky that we're hitting all of these at once, otherwise I'm sure that Jean Bison would have welded them to the engines and forced us to bomb them or something to get them loose... but, since he didn't do that, this Lung is as good as ours."
Derpy pried the Lung from it's resting place and immediately felt the train shudder for a moment, though it would take it come time before it finally shut down completely, to which she took to the skies and flew back towards town, while at the same time she watched as Diz did the same thing, though she was carrying both Bentley and the first Lung. The three of them would return to the safe house and start loading up the van for when Sly and the others returned, as Jean Bison still had the Talons and Bentley already had an idea of where he might have hidden those parts.
Sly, Carmelita, Gilda, and Murray waited for a few minutes, watching as Bentley and Diz jumped onto the back of Iron Horse number 1 and started their part of the operation, while at the same time Derpy was able to do the same thing with Iron Horse number 2, leaving them to wait for the third one to arrive. When Iron Horse number 3 finally came through the town the gang got on the hand car and Murray got them underway, where they followed after the caboose of the train and picked up speed as they went. While they did that Sly decided to voice something he had been thinking about since they came to Canada, and it didn't have to do with Neyla this time, because he was still disturbed over the fact that Jean Bison walked away with both of Clockwerk's Lungs, his Stomach, and his Talons, though he was more disturbed by the fact that he got the Lungs and Stomach. Fortunately the conversation didn't last long, as Murray was able to get them to the caboose rather quickly and managed to prevent them from hitting the back of the train, though as he stabilized the hand car both Sly and Carmelita jumped forward and landed on the backside of the caboose, allowing them to climb up the ladder and drop into the actual car.
From there they entered the next car in the line and found some guards waiting for them, which had to be the ones that were normally stationed on this particular train, to which Sly pulled out a music box, one of the few that Bentley was able to craft from the blueprints in a short amount of time while waiting for him to comfort Carmelita, and hurled it towards the guards. Together he and Carmelita watched as the music box hit the ground, without falling apart in the process, and started to play a tune, one that lured the guards towards it and, instead of smashing it, they fell asleep and crumbled to the ground, totally knocked out from the music that was coming from the device. Both of them were shocked by the outcome, as neither of them were expecting it, but once the guards were down Sly and Carmelita moved forward and headed out through the door in front of them, though Carmelita, having learned some lessons from Sly, picked up the music box and slipped it into her pack, knowing that they could use it again later and that it was best not to leave evidence of their existence behind.
The next car, as it turned out, had a maze of moving lasers and, as Sly discovered, the only way forward was through one of the two paths through the luggage in front of them, meaning that they would have to crawl their way to the other side of the car, something that Carmelita was perfectly okay with since she was the first one of them to move once she understood what they needed to do. Since there were two entrances and one exit Sly quickly found himself stopping for a moment to let Carmelita use the exit first, before he followed her through the exit and picked himself up, which was followed by them heading through the opening and sneaking their way alongside a train car that looked like it would have had someone standing inside it at one point, if the worn floor was anything to go by. Sly was sure that if they had taken their time, and had gone for the first Iron Horse and then the second one, instead of attacking at the same time, that this was where Jean Bison would have been standing, but since they took a different route it was easy for them to get to the other side of the train car.
When they climbed up to the top of the next car in the line, however, they both heard a sound and moved out of the way as Neyla, in a hovercar of some kind, likely stolen from someone, flew over their heads and eventually came to a stop in front of them, indicating that they would need to fight her to move forward.
"Oi, Cooper! Thought I might find you here." Neyla commented, not even glancing back at them while she spoke, indicating that she didn't care about them and simply wanted them to leave her to her business, "You just can't stay away from these Clockwerk parts can you?"
"Of course we can't stay away from them," Carmelita stated, as she had enough of Neyla and wanted her out of her life, and she could tell that Sly was getting annoyed with Neyla was well, which was good news in her eyes, "Neyla, the Clockwerk parts must be collected and their evil destroyed... there's no other way for this to happen."
"Actually, I can just gun you down and take both the Lungs and the Stomach for myself," Neyla said, to which she tapped a few buttons and prepared herself, as she knew that she had the two criminals cornered at the moment and that Barkley, who she honestly didn't care about, would be happy regardless of what happened here, "There's nothing the two of you can do to stop me."
"But that's where you're wrong, Neyla." Sly replied, though at the same time Carmelita noticed the binocucom that he was holding onto and that it was transmitting, where she joined Sly and smiled as well as she looked at Neyla, who had no idea what was going to happen next, "We're not the only members of the Cooper Gang... there's seven of us, though there are three of us with the power to take you out without a moment's hesitation, and two of them were responsible for helping us beat Clockwerk all those years ago. GILDA!"
"With pleasure." a voice said, to which Carmelita looked and found that Gilda had flown up to the point that they were at, though at the same time she could feel the wind in the air shift as the griffin readied herself, with Neyla as her target at the moment, "Wind Blades!"
That was followed by Neyla shouting as the wind, shaped by Gilda's innate magic, became a dozen razor sharp blades that flew through the air and pierced the wings of Neyla's craft, six blades in each wing as it turned out, before they blew apart and severely damaged the vessel, causing a string of curses to erupt from Neyla as she lost control of her vehicle and crashed into the snow nearby. Without anything to use, like a jetpack or something, it was impossible for her to catch up with the speeding train and soon they lost sight of her, to which Gilda chuckled as Sly and Carmelita continued to move towards the train's engine. From that point forward any guards they came across were put to sleep by one of the remaining music boxes that they were carrying, and Carmelita picked up as they moved forward, or simply ignored as they used their environment to navigate their way around the area a group of guards was in. Even when using the wall hook technique that Bentley had informed them about, and Sly must have remembered from one of the pages in the family tome, they were able to make their way through the rest of the train cars and around the remaining guards... before arriving at their destination, where they took the Stomach from it's resting place and got out of there as they felt the train slowly starting to slow down.
On the way back to where they were supposed to meet up, so they could leave with the Lungs and Stomach before Jean Bison found out, Sly was happy to see that Carmelita was smiling, with a genuine smile no less, over the fact that they had shut down Jean Bison's shipping empire, and stopped the spice in the process. It was almost like she had put the last week or two behind her, all the terrible memories of her time trapped in the Contessa's tower, and was looking forward to a bright future, one that he believed that she deserved with all his heart, especially since Neyla was trying to tear her down to the best of her ability. At the same time, however, he knew that she was hurting on the inside, that her dream job at Interpol, where she must have been following in her family's footsteps, just like he was following his father's footsteps, was slowly disappearing before her eyes and that she'd never be able to face her family again if she was dismissed from Interpol because of this mess. He knew Carmelita well enough to know that she was acting, because while she enjoyed being a member of the team, and actually taking to being a thief like it was second nature, she also loved being a cop and helping them bust other criminals... and yet that future was disappearing before their very eyes.
Sly still had no idea what else he could do to help her, because they had given Secretary Sen every bit of information they could get their hands on to prove that Carmelita was innocent and that Neyla framed her, and yet it seemed like someone in Interpol, not Secretary Sen since he was on their side, wanted Carmelita expelled from the force... but he forced himself to put it at the back of his mind, as there were two more parts they needed to collect before the week was done and the possible resurrection of Clockwerk to stop.
Once the gang got back together at the van, and stashed away the Clockwerk Lungs and Stomach, Murray got them underway as they followed the Northern Lights, as both Sly and Carmelita had overheard Jean Bison's conversation with Arpeggio when they entered his cabin. The man from the past was doing something to the Northern Lights, that was was certain considering the fact that sometimes the Lights were brighter than ever and other times they were just gone, and that meant that the gang needed to stop him before he did something that was irreversible. It actually didn't take them long to find an area where they might find Jean Bison, as they eventually came to an area where an immense lumber camp had been set up, though as they stopped at one point, to survey the damage, Derpy approached one of the cut down trees and ran her hand along the edge, while at the same time shivering as she touched where her eye had been. None of them, upon seeing that action, needed to be told what was happening around here, as Jean Bison was in possession of the Clockwerk Talons, which would allow him to clear an entire forest in mere hours while he had those powerful artifacts... and they were, of course, the very Talons that Clockwerk himself had used to wound Derpy and ruin her eye, to the point were she had to wear the eyepatch that she wore all the time.
Sure, the pain of losing her eye and having three permanent scars etched into her face were something she had come to live with and had mostly forgotten about, but the memory of that day, where Clockwerk wounded her in such a way, was forever burned into her memory... and Sly was sure that she'd never be able to forget that day.
When they arrived at their destination a few days later, however, they discovered that there weren't many places for them to set up their safe house, as there was only one circular building that was near the water, and the place where they hid the van was even closer to the water. None of them were happy with the arrangement, since that meant that they were a little exposed in some areas, but at the same time it was all they were able to do at the moment, though another thing none of them were happy with was the fact that the safe house had a large glass window that exposed themselves. Sly and Carmelita, on the other hand, were worried about the fact that the three Clockwerk parts that were in the van were also exposed, as there was the chance that Jean Bison's guards would discover the van and ransack it, but Bentley did his best to disguise the area that the van was in, to keep the parts safe. Once he and the others were done with that, and he was sure that they could keep their van hidden for some time, they gathered around the round table that was inside the safe house and Bentley went over the first steps of their plan.
"Okay, so here's what we know." Bentley said, to which he showed them a few pictures that he had, some of which were their own and some were pieces of information given to them by Secretary Sen, "One, we know that Arpeggio's blimp is on its way to pick up a battery from Jean Bison. And two, the only way we'll get a crack at Arpeggio's Clockwerk Brain is by finding a way to sneak aboard that very blimp."
"But, before we do that we'll need to snag the Clockwerk Talons off Jean Bison." Sly commented, thinking about what was going on and everything that the gang needed to accomplish, as now it felt like they were literally racing the clock this time around, "Time is short and we've got a lot to accomplish."
"True, true... but first things first, this lumber camp isn't on any of my maps." Bentley stated, showing them a large map of the areas they had driven through earlier, while at the same time pointing to the circled question mark, "Sly, I need you and Carmelita to poke around and take some recon photos, they'll help to get my sensors oriented."
"That shouldn't be a problem." Carmelita said, though while she wanted to get in on the action, and tackle the area around them, she knew that heading into the situation blind wasn't a good idea, which was why she was agreeing with Bentley's plan, "Sly and I can get you all the recon photos that you might need on the area."
"Sly, in anticipation of the icy climate, I took the liberty of modifying your cane." Bentley added, to which Sly glanced at his cane for a moment, remembering when Bentley asked to see it for a moment and that he had returned it some time later, which meant that he'd be finding out what his friend did to the cane, "It can now separate into two smaller canes... useful for ice climbing. It'll be useful for ascending to the top of the various sheets of ice around the area, just hit the button I've installed on the cane to separate it before you jump and you'll dig into the ice. This was also inspired by the fact that you, Carmelita, are carrying a pair of smaller canes, so you'll be able to do the same thing that Sly can and you won't fall behind when he starts to climb."
Carmelita nodded and headed outside the safe house, though when she and Sly were outside the building they walked towards the lighthouse a little and dropped down to the ledge that was below them, before Sly approached the ice sheet that was in front of them and tapped the button that Bentley had installed. Just like Bentley had said the cane separated into two smaller canes, which resembled the ones that Carmelita was carrying, and the tips dug into the ice as he started to climb, finding that this was working exactly like he had been told. When he reached the top of the ice sheet, and stopped climbing as he stood up, he turned back and found that Carmelita was following after him, to which he smiled and turned the two small canes into his original cane, before standing to the side as Carmelita reached the top as well, where she smiled at him as they headed towards the beacon that Bentley had set earlier.
"It seems that Bentley's upgrade worked well in the field," Carmelita commented, as she had seen how Sly had used them to climb up the wall that they had climbed, though as Sly nodded his agreement, however, they both glanced at the area in front of them, "So, where should we start?"
"I'm guessing that big house over there is where Jean Bison lives," Sly said, pointing at the large building that was resting by the cliff wall, where Carmelita stared at it for a few moments once he had shown her where it was, "and I think I see a bear off in the distance, so we might want to make our way to that building and go from there."
Carmelita nodded and together the two of them dropped down to the ground in front of them, where they carefully made their way through the lumber camp that was around them, while stealing the treasures that the guards were carrying in their pockets, before they found something to take a picture of. As it turned out the bear was the first thing that they took a picture of, where Bentley commented that this had to be bear country and that he was emitting an odd radio frequency, something he would look into later on, once they had some more information on the area. Carmelita branched off and headed over the river that was near them, where she spotted a boat and snapped a picture of it, where Bentley found that it had a wi-fi link on it, meaning that it had to be piloted by a computer, before she returned to Sly as they continued their search. From there they headed over to the building that was on the right of where the house, or what they assumed was a house, and snapped a picture of the sawmill that was located in that area, where they agreed with Bentley's assessment that this camp had to have been here for some time without being found on the map. After that it was a simple matter to snap a picture of Jean Bison's house, though once they did that Bentley had a new task for them to accomplish... making their way over to the lighthouse they had seen earlier and try to find a way to sneak into the structure, as Bentley was sure that there was something in there that they needed to see.
As it turned out getting to the lighthouse was rather simple, since there was a path carved in the ice between the land they were on and the area their destination was on, though they were fortunate when Sly spotted a hole that they could crawl through... though on the other side, once they both emerged from the hole, they found themselves in the interior of the structure, with Jean Bison walked around the area in front of them, unaware that they were even there. Once they were sure that their target hadn't seen them Sly and Carmelita snapped some pictures of the spinner that was in front of them, the battery charger that caused Bentley to comment on where the battery had to be located, and the chair that was blocking the door, including the door bar that wasn't in use at the moment. When they snapped another picture of Jean Bison, to add to the pictures they had taken so far, both of them heard the man mumbling to himself, to which they paused for a moment so they could hear whatever he was talking about, as it might give them some insight to where he was hiding the Talons.
"Come on Jean, ya got it in ya." Jean Bison commented, to which he tapped his staff on the floor for a moment when he stopped, indicating that he was thinking about something important to him, before he started walking around the area once more, "Those lumberjack games need some more competition. What would attract the participants, eh? Bullseye! I'll post the Clockwerk Talons as a trophy... that should bring in the competition. Although, who'm I kidding, eh? I'm-a-gonna win just like every other year. Ha! Oh, it's tough being this tough, it sure is, yeah."
Sly and Carmelita glanced at each other, as they weren't familiar with these lumberjack games that Jean Bison was talking about, but they were sure that Bentley would be able to figure out what the man was talking about, to which they headed back through the hole they had crawled through and headed back to the safe house... so they could get started on figuring out what they were going to do, especially since they were on the clock, as it was only a matter of time until Arpeggio arrived for the missing battery.
When the duo returned to the safe house they found that Bentley had sent out Derpy, Gilda, and Diz to scout out the rest of the area while they were busy, where all three of them had come back with more information, all the clue bottles that were scattered around the camp, all the random treasures that Jean Bison had on display, and some pocket treasure from the various guards. What they found out was that due to frequent avalanches, which this area had suffered for quite some time in the past, a log chopping guide had been preserved in the ice, something that Bentley wanted Sly to acquire, though when Carmelita said that she'd join him Bentley had another task in mind for her. Despite Jean Bison's mind he was keeping taps on the bears in the area, where Carmelita discovered that Bentley wanted her to head into the den that the bears called home, take their trackers, and put them up around the camp, to get some additional information. In addition to all that he needed Murray to infiltrate the moose guards' secret RC combat club, where all he needed to do was beat them in a battle and get the location of the Northern Light Battery that Jean Bison was preparing for Arpeggio... where they discovered that Bentley's plan was to use the battery as a Trojan Horse to get aboard the blimp, so they could take the last part of Clockwerk once they had the Talons.
Derpy, Gilda, and Diz found themselves, once again, without a specific mission to tie themselves to, as Bentley intentionally didn't give them anything since they would go where they felt their talents were the most useful, which was why they were able to do all these missions so successfully... though as they carefully decided what to do, however, Sly, Carmelita, and Murray headed out to their missions, though Carmelita was the first to arrive at her destination.
"Okay Bentley, I'm in position." Carmelita commented, as she had snuck up to the roof of a building that was literally outside the entrance of the bear cave, though at the same time she found that the opening was jammed, no doubt because of Jean Bison, and that there was a small hole for someone to crawl through.
"The wild bears in the area have been tagged with radio tracking devices." Bentley explained, knowing that Sly would kill him for sending Carmelita on a dangerous mission, if she got hurt anyway, but he had faith in her abilities, "If you can snag enough of them we should be able to set up a receiver array around Jean Bison's house."
"You know, I never thought that I would be intentionally bugging someone's home," Carmelita said, to which she sighed as she looked down at the canes she was carrying, as it had been ages since she had done what Bentley was suggesting, "at least without a warrant or permission from a superior."
"Carmelita, I know you're still new to all of this, but you have to understand that sometimes we do things that we're not exactly proud of, though we do it for the good of everyone around us." Bentley replied, as he had known that this might be a problem for her, since she was technically still a cop, despite being on the run from Neyla and Barkley, and he wanted her to see what this life was like for herself, which was why he purposely was making her do this mission on her own, "The first step is crawling into that bear cave and stealing the goods... and, if my sensors are right, the radio transmitters are inside the mouths of the bears that call that cave home."
"Great... sounds fun." Carmelita stated, though even as she set her binocucom down, however, she understood what Bentley was trying to tell her, there were some freedoms that came with being a thief, rule that they didn't have to follow when they were out in the field... and, at the same time, she found herself being a bit excited about all of this once more, just like she had been when she first followed Sly over the rooftops back in Paris.
Once she was ready to get moving she jumped down to the ground in front of her and crawled into the hole, though a few moments later she found herself inside the cave, where she spotted some thin ice that was sure to wake up all the sleeping bears if she stepped on them. As such she did her absolute best to avoid the ice, jumping over it and touching down in front of the first bear that was in the cave, where she waited until it was yawning and reached in with one of her canes, to which she pried the transmitter from the bear's mouth and pocked it before she headed to the left. The second bear had some ice surrounded it, though she was more than able to jump over the ice and picked the transmitter when her target yawned, before she jumped over to where the third bear was located and did the same thing, though she kept moving since the bears could potentially wake up on their own and see her. Getting to the fourth bear required her to use the Ninja Spire Jump technique a few times, as well as incorporate the use of her canes to make her way across the ice covered wall that was in her path, before she swiped the transmitter and reversed her direction since the fourth bear was at a dead end.
After that the fifth bear was even easier to get to, since it was up the path she was following, and with that transmitter in hand she jumped at the ice wall and made her way over to where the sixth and final bear, as she was back at the area she had crawled out into was located, was located... though when she had that transmitter she headed back to the hole and left the bears alone as she crawled back outside.
Once she was back outside Bentley informed her that he had the locations for her to place the transmitters down at, so they could form an array and listen to whatever Jean Bison was broadcasting, though the very first one happened to be at the top of the silo that was off on her right. To get at it she had to climb to the top of the sawmill that was in front of her and jump down to the top of the silo, which she was able to do without alerting the guards to her presence, though once that was done she continued moving towards the next point that Bentley had sent her. The second one, as it turned out, as to be placed on top of Jean Bison's house, so she climbed back up to the top of the building she had just climbed, jumped onto the claw of ice that was sticking out of the rock wall, and made her way over to the point that she placed the second transmitter down on. The third one was supposed to go on top of a second silo, which was near her location, and the fourth one happened to go on top of a roof that was close to the third one, which surprised her a little when she put them in the locations that Bentley wanted her to place them in, before she moved towards the last to. The last two, as she soon found out, needed to be placed near the sawmill, so she followed the coordinates that Bentley had sent her and placed the last two transmitters in the areas that Bentley wanted... though when her task was completed, however, she heard Jean Bison say something about his teams clearing a large amount of trees.
She sighed as she headed back to the safe house, as she didn't want to listen to Jean Bison talk about 'progress' all the time, and hoped that Sly and the others were having luck on their missions, since none of them had returned to the safe house by the time she got back.
Sly purposely entered the building that was close to Jean Bison's house alone, as he had both Gilda and Derpy standing outside in case someone came along or something else happened, mostly because Bentley had told him that his was going to be a quick mission and that he'd be outside the building in no time. He still had no idea how Bentley was able to find out that Jean Bison had an industrial strength laser, used to cut through petrified logs apparently, but from what he was able to gather it was something that Secretary Sen told him about in the last message they had received from him. The fact that the gang hadn't gotten anything else from the Secretary, since they stole the Clockwerk Lungs and Stomach, meant that he was either busy or something had happened that demanded his immediate attention, to which Sly turned his attention to the mission he was currently on. From what Bentley had told him and his sisters, as he gave them a rundown on their objectives after sending Carmelita on her solo mission, was that they needed to redirect the laser to a point where they could use the special ice crystals that he had inside the van to thaw out the log chopping guide... where Sly, once again, found it oddly convenient that Bentley had the tools for the job at the ready, but at least it saved them some time.
As such he entered the building that the laser saw was in alone, as the moment the laser was bounded outside both Gilda and Derpy would be on the move, though the moment he touched the floor he carefully made his way through the series of hazards that were in his way. That included lasers moving up and down a wall he needed to walk along, spotlights at he was sure were going to fire at him if he walked into the light, several moose guards that were either sleeping or patrolling the area around them, and some floor lasers. In addition to all that he paused by the safe and input the code that Bentley was able to fight out, thanks to Derpy, Gilda, and Diz finding all the bottles while he and Carmelita were taking pictures of the area for Bentley, though after putting in 5-8-3 he pulled out the some notes on a spinning attack that had 'lightning' attached to the user's weapon. Once the safe was open he finished his infiltration by reaching where the lever for the laser was, to which it moved and pointed the laser beam outside, where he crawled through the opening that allowed him to climb the ladder and head outside... though once he was outside he found both Gilda and Derpy already moving through the air as they followed the beam and continued to redirect it.
Since his sisters were able to fly through the air, and were making good time on redirecting the beam, Sly headed to where the log chopper guide was located and stood near it, as there was a mammoth trapped in the ice as well... though when the laser was finally hitting the ice wall, however, the mammoth also broke free and fled from the area, only to, as Bentley told them, to fall into the water and return to being a frozen creature. Sly then sighed, as it would have been nice to rescue the creature, before picking up the log chopping guide and made his way towards the safe house, where his sisters joined him with a triumphant look on both of their faces... and they were sure that Bentley was going to be able to come up with a plan once he took a look at the book they were bringing to him.
Murray found his way to the building that Bentley had pointed out, as there was a rumor of off duty guards having an RC combat club in that building, though at the same time Bentley reminded him that he needed to win a match and figure out where the Northern Light Battery was located. At the same time Diz was walking beside him, still trapped in her female state since she hadn't done anything that would warrant her magic allowing her to snap back to her male state, because Bentley was sure that Murray needed help to get the information he needed. When the two of them entered the building, however, they discovered that all of the members of the club were moose, meaning that Murray, who was a hippo, wouldn't be allowed to join the club or participate. Fortunately they didn't have to worry about anything, as Diz spotted a moose head, a costume one, in the upper area above them, though since Murray couldn't sneak around the area he stood beside the door and let Diz walked into the area in front of her.
Diz smiled as she wove her magic through the air and disappeared as the invisibility spell took affect, though since she was sure that flying would draw attention she headed to the other side of the room and climbed up the railing that allowed her to reach the upper floor. After she reached the area that a guard was standing guard in, and took everything that was in his pockets, she headed through an area that required her to use some hooks to swing her way across the gaps and reach the other side of the building, where the entrance was located. From there she carefully walked over the saw blades that were moving and reached the next side, where she had to crawl under the circular saw blades that were in front of her, before bypassing the sleepy guard that was in her way and used the hanging logs to get to the area that the head was located in... where she used the tables as cover as she reached her target, where she kicked the costume head off the floor and let it hit the area near Murray.
Once the head was in position, and she landed on the floor near the door, Murray claimed the head and slipped it over his own head, to which Diz watched as Murray readied himself and walked forward, as she was interested in figuring out what was going on and where the Northern Light Battery was located.
"Hey fellas, any of you think you can beat 'the Mur... 'the Moose'?" Murray said, where Diz noticed that he had to pause for a moment, since his normal name would likely tip off the guards and alert Jean Bison to what they were doing at the moment, "Maybe put a bet on it?"
"Oh I'm in, eh!" the moose Murray had chosen to talk to said, though at the same time Diz shook her head, grateful that no one could see her at the moment, as it appeared that the guards were too stupid to realize that Murray wasn't a new guard since Jean Bison would have told them about him before this point, "I ain't got a lot of money for this wager... but there's no way I'd lose to a new guy like you."
Diz watched as Murray took the controller that was offered to him and started controlling the vehicle that was attached to it, where he grinned as he stared at the vehicle that was his opponent while the rest of the guards that weren't participating in the battle gathered around to watch. Apparently these combat drones didn't have any ammunition in them at the moment, as bits were carefully dropped into the area as Murray and his opponent moved around the arena, though the moment Murray picked up some ammunition he targeted his opponent's drone and fired at it. Diz observed the match as Murray showed off the skills that he had used back in Istanbul, as that was the last time he had been able to do something like this, and slowly seized control of the situation that he had found himself in, much to the amazement of the guards that were watching the fight, as they weren't expecting a new guy to dominate what had to be one of their strongest fighters... and, after a few moments, his opponent's drone stopped moving, showing that Murray had won the match as he handed the controller back to the guard that had given it to him.
The guard that he had been battling against, however, stood there in shock for a few seconds, clearly surprised by the fact that he had been beaten so soundly, before setting down his controller and walked over to where Murray was standing, so he could hand over the prize.
"You won, but I ain't got no money." the guard said, though his tone suggested that he was hoping that the new guy would have mercy on him since he actually had nothing to offer him, even though this was one of the guards that Diz didn't steal from when she was moving through the area.
"That might be okay," Murray replied, though at the same time Diz knew what he was going to do, since they had come here for one specific reason and he was going to make sure that Bentley had the information that he needed for the plan he was thinking of, "it all depends."
"Depends on what?" the guard asked, where his tone revealed that he was worried, meaning that when people usually did this it didn't end well for people, which meant that he was fortunate that Murray and Diz were only after one thing and nothing else at the moment.
"On whether or not you know the location of the Northern Light Battery." Murray stated, knowing that, since the guards seemed to think that he was one of them, none of them would report this to Jean Bison, meaning that they would have an opening to exploit in the future.
"Oh... well I guess I owe yah..." the guard said, to which he started telling Murray exactly what he wanted to know, as that would allow him to get rid of the bet and put this shame behind him, while at the same time the defeat would drive him to improve for future matches.
A few moments later Murray and Diz walked out of the building with the location of the Northern Light Battery, just like Bentley requested, and headed back to the safe house, though Murray kept the costume head on and found that the guards paid no attention to him... though when they got back to the safe house he took it off and Diz undid her invisibility spell, where Bentley asked all of them to gather around him once more.
"I've gone over what's inside the log chopping guide," Bentley said, patting the tome that Sly, Gilda, and Derpy had freed from the ice, though the look on his face told the others that he didn't like what he had found, "and, after coming up with a few plans, I've decided on one that might work... we face Jean Bison in the Lumberjack Games and see if we can't convince him to turn against Arpeggio while we're competing against him. I considered cheating and trying our luck, but then I thought about our opponent and knew that trying that, even if he couldn't prove it, would only anger him and cause him to lash out at us... if we do this, and I think it's the most viable option, we'll have to play by the rules."
"Personally, Jean Bison looks like the type of person that gets angry easily," Carmelita commented, staring at the picture that she and Sly had taken, which showed how annoyed the man was that his trains had been stolen from and the parts he had taken had been stolen as well, "We'd have to give him something else to... be... angry at... I can't believe we didn't consider this earlier."
"Consider what?" Derpy asked, because right now they were wasting time, as Arpeggio was on his way here and there was no telling if he was going to arrive earlier, right on time, or a few minutes late, and she didn't like the fact that they were just sitting around doing nothing.
"Jean Bison is stuck in the old ways, that much we know for a fact," Carmelita said, as that seemed to hold true due to what they had seen back in the other camp, as his guards seemed to be old fashioned as well, and yet he was also abiding by old customs here as well, "which means that all he's interested in, if I'm right about this, is running those Iron Horses of his and nothing else. It's possible that Jean Bison has a dream of his own that he's been working towards, by whatever means that are available to him, and maybe Arpeggio is making sure he can't do that... we might be able to drive a wedge between the two of them in the process and get our way aboard the blimp."
"You know, maybe we can talk this out for once," Sly stated, as he was surprised that Carmelita would even think of something like that, but when he took into account what they had discovered back in Nunavut Bay and what they had found out while scouting the area, he knew that her plan had a great deal of success, "and, if that fails, we should be ready for a fight... though I seriously hope it doesn't come to that."
Derpy, Gilda, and Diz stared at each other for a moment as Bentley laid out the plan, or who would tackle each of the three challenges that were in the Lumberjack Games, because something told them that they were missing something important... and they knew that they weren't going to like what was coming next for them and the rest of the gang.
Since they had some time before the start of the Lumberjack Games, as they weren't supposed to start for an hour or two, Bentley insisted on making sure that Sly's ascension skills were ready to go, that Murray was ready to split a log like his life defended on it, and that Diz was ready to tackle the log rolling challenge. The reasoning behind that decision was that Jean Bison would likely get annoyed with someone entering the competition with wings, something that Diz could easily hide with his magic, since he had faked it many times before he joined them, though while Gilda and Derpy were experienced without using their wings, on Sly's insistence, if they opened them their opponent was likely to get mad. Bentley was sure that he could have done the third challenge himself, and would have done it as well, but something told him that he might be needed for when they walked with Jean Bison, so he refrained from entering the competition and decided to stay on the sidelines with Derpy, Gilda, and Carmelita. None of them were exactly pleased with that suggestion, but when Carmelita asked Bentley why they didn't sign up two teams, to keep someone by Jean Bison when he wasn't taking his turn at each of the challenges, Bentley stared at her for a moment and brought his palm to his face.
It appeared that the thought had never crossed his mind to do something like that, where he ensured that Gilda took up the axe swinging challenge, made sure Derpy was ready for the ascension challenge, and he was taking the log rolling challenge... leaving Carmelita as the odd one out, which slightly annoyed her, but in the end she guessed that, since it was her idea to talk things over with Jean Bison, that she'd be the one to stand on the sidelines.
As everyone got ready for the Lumberjack Games, however, Carmelita remained sitting at the table in the safe house for some time, though while she did that she pulled her pack over and sighed as she reached up and removed her collar, where she kept her Inspector badge, before putting both it and her pistol inside the pack. For the most part Jean Bison wouldn't be able to recognize her, not when he had barely given her a passing glance at Rajan's party and neither of them had spoken to each other during that same party, but at the same time she didn't want him to see that she was a cop, even one that was on the run. It would ruin the whole operation and destroy their chances of getting the Talons from the man, so she decided to go without them and hoped that the others could stall Jean Bison long enough for her to talk some sense into him, as well as those who weren't taking their turns on the challenge that they had been signed up for. The only other thing she did was check her own email, as Bentley's computer was designed to make sure no one could track any activity on it and he even assured her that she could do this without someone, like Neyla for instance, finding out where they were hiding... only when she opened her email she noticed that many of her recent incoming messages were from Barkley, who was just telling her that he would eventually find her and the gang she was running with.
It hurt to see that the Inspector that she had worked under, who had trained her to eventually be the one to take over for him when he decided to retire, was now so firmly against her and the people she was running with, especially since his choice of words were rather hurtful as well... and yet, at the same time, she logged out of her email and prepared herself for what she and the others were about to do, especially since Jean Bison was hoping for people to come and participate in the Lumberjack Games.
When the gang was ready to leave, as the games would be starting soon, they walked outside the safe house and headed down the walkway that was nearby, which gave them a good view of the area that Jean Bison had prepared for the Lumberjack Games. There was a judges table, where three duck guards were sitting and shuffling their score cards around, apparently discussing something that had to deal with the games, as well as a number of decent sized wooden logs that would be split apart in the first challenge, a large wall that had to be reserved for the second challenge, and three equal sized logs that were the final challenge. It was clear that Jean Bison was ready for the games to begin, though when the group looked around the area they knew that they were the only ones to show up, as it appeared that, since Jean Bison was competing once again, the other lumberjacks happened to have enough of him and weren't showing up, meaning that they would have considered coming if he was a judge or just a spectator. Fortunately that meant it was them against Jean Bison, but at the same time fewer competitors meant that they wouldn't have a lot of time to convince the man that his real enemy was Arpeggio... which told Carmelita that she was going to have to work her magic to see if she could get some results before the games were over and a winner was decided.
Eventually Bentley approached Jean Bison and told him that his group and a second group where there to enter his games, where the man told them to pay the entry fee so they could get started, as it appeared that no one else was going to bother to show up today... and yet, while all that was happening, Jean Bison walked over to where Carmelita was standing, as she had a front row seat to the Lumberjack Games.
"Miss Fox," Jean Bison said, immediately raising alarms in Carmelita's head, as this wasn't supposed to happen and she had removed the only identifiable items on her, ones that a man like Jean Bison would recognize, "I'm surprised to find someone like you all the way out here. Are you participating, or just watching?"
"I'm just here to watch," Carmelita replied, hoping that the man didn't put it together that the group she arrived with was the Cooper Gang, otherwise the operation was blown before they could even start, "I figured that, since I was already in the area, I might as well swing by and see what was so special about the Lumberjack Games."
"You should have signed up then!" Jean Bison stated, as if the idea of an additional opponent was something he would have humored, since he was literally taking whatever he could get since no one else showed up, "Or did you come running cause I posted the Clockwerk Talons as the prize?"
"The Talons were a good reason for me to come here as well," Carmelita said, not believing that she was having a small conversation with the man that had helped the Klaww Gang steal all the Clockwerk parts, though at the same time he seemed to be glancing at the games every now and then, observing the others as they tackled the challenges that Bentley had signed them up for, "though Interpol would lock me up the moment they laid eyes on me, so it wouldn't have done me any good to try and take them from you. Besides, you said they were the prize, and I doubt that you would go back on your word..."
"I would rather have my father beat some sense into me than to go back on my word," Jean Bison said, to which he nodded his head, as Murray had stepped up to the platform and had delivered some powerful attacks that split the wood in half, telling Carmelita that he was a tab bit excited about what was going on.
"And I also came because I was worried about the Northern Lights," Carmeltia started to say, though at the same time she found that Jean Bison had launched himself into a story about his past, when he did something wrong when he was a little kid and his father 'punished' him, which sounded like a more severe version of parents spanking their children, before he realized that it was his turn.
As such Jean Bison stepped up to the platform and attacked the log as well, though his attacks were so precise that he was able to split the log without damaging it at all, shocking everyone that was watching him and earning him the same perfect score as everyone else... before he returned to where Carmelita was standing, who was beginning to see how difficult this operation was going to be if the man was as skilled as he was.
"Now then, you said something about being worried about the Northern Lights?" Jean Bison asked, to which Carmelita nodded her head, knowing that it was better if the man continued to talk on his own and spilled the beans, as he seemed to be in a good mood at the moment, even though there was a frown on his face when he looked at the sky, "Yeah, right now they're flickering and fading, not like the usual show that they put on, though that's mostly because of my Northern Light Collector. I know you might not care, Miss Fox, but I've always loved the Northern Lights and the shows they put on, so when I found a way to combine my knowledge of Injun magic, my old settlers know-how, and some of the fancy machines you have, creating a way to safely harness their power. If I were to use the lowest draw setting the Lights would only dim and continue to put on their show, but when Arpeggio asked for that extra battery the only way to get it ready in time was the full draw, which results in what we're seeing at the moment."
"Wait, so your technique doesn't actually damage the Northern Lights?" Carmelita asked, as that was one of the reasons they had come here, despite the fact that getting the Talons and finding a way aboard Arpeggio's blimp were the real reason the gang had come all the way here.
"Nope." Jean Bison said, to which he raised a hand to his chin for a moment, as if he was trying to figure something out, before he noticed that he was being waved over for his turn at the wall, and noticed that he had missed the others in their attempts, to which he pulled a set of papers out and handed them to Carmelita, "I can't remember what I was going to say, but that explains it... and now it's my turn to climb the wall."
Carmelita stood there for a moment as Jean Bison walked away once more, as she was still surprised that he was so different when someone talked about something that he was passionate about, before she beckoned Bentley over and showed him what she had been given. Bentley, seeing the various math equations on the piece of paper, pulled out a calculator that he kept on hand and started to do the math, though at the same time Carmelita noticed that his eyebrows raised a bit while he was working, meaning that this meant something to him. In the end, as Jean Bison scored a perfect score in the second challenge, Bentley was able to figure out that the power of the Norther Lights, collected by the Collector that Jean Bison had set up, could easily power an entire continent if he was inclined to do so. Carmelita was surprised by what Bentley was able to figure out, though when Jean Bison came back he was surprised to see Bentley standing there, since he was supposed to be getting ready for the third challenge, but, at the same time, there was something that Bentley needed to ask before they went any further with this operation.
"Jean Bison, are these numbers correct?" Bentley asked, showing him the notes that he had handed Carmelita, though that only caused the man to raise an eyebrow at them while he stood there and looked at the page that was in front of him, while the others prepared themselves.
"Those are the numbers that Arpeggio came up with," Jean Bison replied, to which he shrugged his shoulders for a moment, once more showing that he had next to no information on the technology that was in this time period and the terms that people used, "He assured me that they were correct... not that I understand what they mean."
"You have a renewable source of energy, something that the world has been trying to find for some time now," Bentley stated, taking a look at the notes once more, finding that his math was definitely correct and that he would be correct in what he was going to say next, "Billions of dollars are being used to try and find renewable sources like this, and failing I might add, so if you made your Northern Light Collector public, and patented it, you'd be able to make more money than you could possibly dream of."
"I don't care about money," Jean Bison stated in return, though at the same time he was interested in what Bentley was saying, despite the fact that the judges were getting eager for them to step up and perform the final challenge of the Lumberjack Games, "all I care about is running my Iron Horses, which had their Clockwerk parts stolen recently."
"Well, if you switch the trains to electricity, you should be able to run them off the Northern Light energy." Bentley said, to which he caught Jean Bison's attention, because now that they knew what button to press he could see what he could do to persuade the man to turn against Arpeggio, "You know, if you showed Arpeggio some of these notes, I can see why he wasn't willing to help you achieve your dreams, because it would let you break away from him and stop doing his shipments for him."
Suffice to say that Jean Bison took a few moments to think about what was going on before his fury ignited, showing that he wasn't happy that Arpeggio had lied to him, tricked him into doing all his shipments for free, which confirmed what Bentley had been thinking, and immediately began thinking about ways to have his revenge on the little bird that had done all this to him since they first encountered each other. The moment that happened he called a close to the Lumberjack Games and huffed over to the judges, as he wanted to have a word with them, though at the same time Sly approached him and told him that, if he wanted to get back at Arpeggio for tricking him, he might as well help them out by handing over the Talons. That was further backed when Bentley said that, given some time, he could figure out a base form of what Jean Bison wanted to use the Northern Light Collector for, which seemed to be in their best interest, since a few moments later he set a bag down on the judges stand and let the Cooper Gang take the Talons... knowing that, by giving them to the gang, they would damage Arpeggio's plans further.
When Sly moved to collect the bag, however, it disappeared as Neyla, using a jetpack to fly through the air, snatched it and appeared in the air in front of them, though at the same time she stared down at them with a look of anger on her face, to which the entire Cooper Gang prepared themselves as they focused on her.
"It's like I said earlier, you Coopers can't stay away from these Clockwerk parts." Neyla said, though she smiled as she stashed the bag containing the Talons in the bag she was carrying, before she focused on the people below her, "Thanks for doing all the legwork for me, because these are the last pieces of the puzzle."
"You've failed Neyla," Carmelita declared, as she knew that it was impossible for the corrupt cop to have the other parts of Clockwerk that they had painstakingly collected, not when Secretary Sen had them safe and sound in a new hiding place that she won't be able to find, "Stand down and let us capture you... the worst that can happen is that you'll spend the rest of your life behind bars for disobeying Secretary Sen."
"It seems that you don't understand the situation that you're in." Neyla said, though the look on her face revealed that she knew something that the gang didn't, while at the same time she paid Jean Bison no attention at all, "I was hoping you would leave the Clockwerk parts with Secretary Sen, at a safe house some distance away from where the Contessa's castle was located, and when you left them there I waited for the transport to arrive. It was rather easy to knock out the officers that were sent to collect the parts you stole, allowing me and my companions to make off with all the parts that were inside the safe house... and now that I have the Lungs, Stomach, and the Talons, thanks to your efforts, Arpeggio has everything he needs for the final stage of his plan."
Derpy, Gilda, and Diz, hearing Neyla's words, opened their wings and flew over to where the van was located, though when they arrived they found that it had been ransacked while everyone was distracted by the Lumberjack Games, which pissed all three of them at the same time. While that happened Neyla smiled and took off, carrying the parts that they had taken from jean Bison, though she was out of range before any of the magical family members could have struck her down where she was floating, to which Sly and the others started talking things over with Jean Bison, as in what they needed to do to get his revenge on Arpeggio and what he could do to assist them. As it turned out their former target had an idea for them, they could drain the Northern Light Battery of all it's energy and transfer it into another silo that was nearby, so it wasn't wasted, and then use the empty shell to get aboard the blimp that was coming to collect the battery that Arpeggio was coming for.
During all that preparation, however, Bentley found an email from Secretary Sen, one that detailed that the security team he had chosen to transport the Clockwerk parts they had left at the safe house had been attacked and the parts had been stolen, verifying Neyla's claims. With that information confirmed Bentley told their ally what Neyla had done, that Jean Bison was actually the only innocent member of the Klaww Gang, and that they were going to try and stop the very real resurrection of Clockwerk, which had been one of the reasons they had sought the parts in the first place. Thankfully it didn't take Jean Bison long to transfer the energy to the spare silo, though Murray insisted that someone needed to take care of his van before they came back for it, though before any promises could be made one of the guards made the announcement that all of them were waiting for... Arpeggio's blimp was vastly approaching the lumber camp, meaning that they were coming for the battery that Jean Bison had prepared for the person that had played him.
The gang quickly climbed into the now void silo and let Jean Bison seal them in, though they patiently waited for the battery to move and made no noises as they were hauled into the air, heading towards the base of operations for the man responsible for everything the Klaww Gang had done... and who, as an unexpected side effect to their heists, was in possession of all the Clockwerk parts. They needed to stop him and fast, otherwise the monster that had hunted Sly's family was going to be reborn and complete whatever plan Arpeggio had in mind.
As all of them sat there, inside the Northern Light Battery, the gang couldn't believe that the focus of all their schemes and heists since Cairo, the Clockwerk parts, had been stolen from them in one form or another and were now gathered in a single place for a single sinister purpose. Bentley, daring to use his computer for a moment, found out that they were heading east across the Atlantic Ocean, as stowaways on the giant airborne fortress that Arpeggio had created, and made sure that Secretary Sen knew where they were going. Despite the fact that time was short the gang made sure to study up on their unknowing host, where they discovered that Arpeggio attended a prestigious boarding school, where he excelled in all subjects, but at the same time he never managed to keep up with the other boys physically. They found out that his wings, due to their small size, were useless for flight, which made him furious at his feeble body and caused him to focus his powerful mind to start searching for a cure, in the works of the Italian Renaissance masters as it turned out. Bentley was sure that the notebooks of those masters provided the springboard for this sinister young genius, and that it wasn't long before the Klaww Gang took him on as their chief inventor.
It was clear to them that Arpeggio's talents must have been at work repurposing all the Clockwerk parts for the various criminal schemes of his cohorts, and now this mastermind was in possession of all the parts, meaning that it was only a matter of time before he put them all back together... to which the gang decided that they weren't going to let that happen, as they were sure that the moment the parts were united Clockwerk would awaken from his slumber.
When the battery finally stopped moving, and they waited for a few moments to be sure that none of Arpeggio's guards were in the area, Sly carefully moved towards the top of the battery and opened the lid, where he glanced at the area around them and beckoned for the others to follow him. As they soon discovered the battery rested in the middle section of the large fortress that was Arpeggio's blimp, though once they were all outside the empty silo they headed towards the backside of the ship, where they might be able to find a place to hide and make their safe house. Bentley was able to find another Northern Light Battery, the one that Arpeggio must have been replacing with the one they had been riding in, and found that it was large enough for all of them, again with a round table of sorts for them, and they moved into it without delay, as they could see Arpeggio's guards patrolling the area near them. Once they got situated in their new safe house, which was even worse than the one they had in Jean Bison's lumber camp, Bentley set up some of his tools and instruments so he could get a good understanding of what was going on.
A few minutes later Bentley said that he had an idea of where the parts might be located, though as Sly turned to leave he found that Carmelita, Gilda, Derpy, and Diz were coming with him, because if he found where the parts were resting he'd need assistance in dealing with the security. This time around he didn't tell the others to stay back, rather the five of them moved out from their new safe house and headed into the area of the fortress that was around them, where they noticed that some of Arpeggio's guards were using stilts to stand taller than they had been without them. While both Sly and Carmelita ran over the walkways that happened to be in front of them, and snuck around the guards that they encountered, Derpy, Gilda, and Diz surveyed the entire flying fortress and collected the bottles that were scattered all over the place, not that they cared about the safe since they were more worried about what Arpeggio was doing. It took them some time to make their way around the flying fortress, since there were some spotlights, guards, and large fans that they had to avoid, but eventually the five of them gathered near what had to be one of the generators for the blimp, one of four if they were seeing things right... and, despite everything they had seen on the way here, they were staring at one of the actual blimps that were flying close to the fortress the battery had been placed on.
Once all five of them were in position, and they were sure that none of the guards had seen them as they made their way to this area, they reached into their packs and pulled out their binocucoms, as they were sure that Bentley had something to tell them before they started taking pictures of the area.
"My instruments have picked up large magnetic fields radiating from inside that blimp." Bentley said, having them zoom in on the same blimp that they had been looking at before they pulled out their binocucoms, meaning he had found something out, "If Arpeggio's already started re-assembling Clockwerk that's where you'll find him."
"Sounds good," Sly replied, though he knew that they were all nervous, because the last time that four of them had seen Clockwerk whole was when they fought him above the Krack-Karov Volcano, where Diz hadn't been since he joined the gang a few days later, "We're on our way."
"Don't waste any time here Sly, get to the blimp and take some recon photos." Bentley stated, indicating that he needed them to find out what was going on in there and not stay outside the blimp, even though they'd be able to give him information on the blimp if someone stayed outside the blimp, "To build a plan we need to know how close they are to reviving Clockwerk."
"Relax Bentley." Carmelita said, knowing that Bentley was as nervous as they were, and he wasn't even heading into the area that the magnetic fields were coming from, but she was eager to bring a close to this adventure so she could find and lock Neyla away for her crimes, "We've got it under control."
The moment the five of them put their binocucoms away both Sly and Carmelita climbed the nearby rope and used their paragliders to reach the wing of the blimp they were heading to, where Derpy, Gilda, and Diz flew over when the way was open, before they climbed up the pipe that was outside the blimp and used the grate to head inside... though when they emerged from the vent, however, all five of them stopped in their tracks when they noticed what was in front of them, even as Sly opened a link to Bentley.
"I... I had no idea they could re-assemble Clockwerk so fast!" Bentley exclaimed, as he took in the fact that Arpeggio was able to piece together the parts of the ancient owl that Neyla had stolen from the transport and added in the ones she had taken from their van, as Clockwerk was whole once more.
"Calm down Bentley... he might be in one piece but he doesn't appear to be, you know, 'alive'." Derpy said, though at the same time she touched the eye the owl had destroyed once more, remembering the battle with ease, before she lowered her hand and looked down at what was in front of them at the moment, "Let's stick to the format here, how about some recon photos?"
"You're right, we need to be informed to create a plan of action." Bentley replied, to which they heard him sigh as calmed himself down, though not a few seconds later he was ready to give them some targets to snap some pictures of before they got out of there, "Try to get a shot of Clockwerk's head, a mech egg and one of those spinning magnetic inducers... they seem important to the process. But stay away from the guards... if you get detected we won't have time for a second chance."
The five of them carefully dropped down into the area and separated from each other, as while Gilda, Derpy, and Diz stayed in the air, and got some pictures of the four magnetic inducers that were spinning around the chamber, Sly and Carmelita snapped a picture of the eggs, which were apparently radioactive in some manner, and Clockwerk's head, where Sly was able to determine that he was inanimate at the moment. That was followed by Gilda snapping a picture of both Arpeggio and Neyla, who were at the front of the blimp, to which the five of them, including Bentley, determined that they were definitely in league with each other.
"It seems that we were right in our earlier thoughts," Carmelita commented, making sure that she and the others were in an area where the guards wouldn't hear them talking, which was in the same area that they had entered through, but at the same time she locked her eyes on the metallic owl in front of them, "Neyla and Arpeggio are trying to put together Clockwerk, why we still have no idea, and they are dangerously close to realizing that goal... Bentley, is there anything we can do to stop this from happening?"
"Well... those magnetic inducers seem to be holding the parts together." Bentley stated, showing that, in the brief amount of time he had studied the pictures before Carmelita had spoken up, though right now Sly was happy to have his quick thinking on their side, "If you reversed their polarity it should pull Clockwerk apart. Unfortunately, the inducer speed control station is locked down tight. Pickpocket keys from the four patrolling guards to get at it. Then... you'll need to manually reverse the polarity of each inducer deck at the top of their rotation."
"Consider it done." Sly replied, because with five of them in the area they could easily get all of the keys and then reverse the control stations, to which the group got moving, because the more time they wasted the more in danger they were of Clockwerk waking up.
What happened next was that Sly, Carmelita, Gilda, and Derpy each stole a key from one of the four guards that were in the area, though once they had their key they moved into position and waited for one of the magnetic inducers to be in place so they could reverse the polarity. Diz, on the other hand, stayed near where Arpeggio and Neyla were standing, so she could tell them whether or not their enemies were coming out to see Clockwerk once more, but fortunately neither of them were interested in coming out here at the moment. Once the keys were used on the control terminal, and the polarity was reversed, the four magnets slowed down to the point where they could be jumped onto, to which Gilda and Derpy watched as both Sly and Carmelita jumped up to the magnetic inducers and tapped the controls that they found on each one of them to reverse the polarity. The moment that Sly tapped the controls on the last one, however, the various parts of Clockwerk actually snapped together, locking them into place before their eyes, and the ropes that were keeping the body hanging in the air snapped, causing the metallic owl to fall to the floor and smash everything around it.
Before the group could do anything, especially when they realized that they had screwed up majorly, the door opened and both Neyla and Arpeggio started to approach Clockwerk's body... though as the group touched down in front of them, hidden from sight and hearing by the quick magic that Diz had crafted, Sly could have sworn that one of the eyes opened for a brief moment before closing again.
"What's all this then?" Arpeggio exclaimed, where he expected to find his guards patrolling the area and keeping the Clockwerk parts safe, but then he noticed that the parts had been locked together and glanced up at the magnets that were moving around the chamber, "The magnets have been reversed?!? But? By Jove, it seems to have locked the Clockwerk parts into place! Excellent!"
"Not so fast Arpeggio." Sly stated, to which he and the others materialized in front of Arpeggio and Neyla, who were surprised by their sudden arrival, though even as that happened Sly could tell that Neyla had been expecting them to show up at some point.
"Of course this would be the doing of your gang." Neyla said, to which she crossed her arms for a moment, as this only confirmed something that she said time and time again when she was dealing with them, even if they were a little late to stop their plans, "You really can't stay away from Clockwerk, can't you?"
"Ah, Mr. Cooper. No doubt you and your companions believed a reversal would pull the old bird apart, eh?" Arpeggio spoke up, his voice revealing that he was beyond pleased that this had happened, as it meant that his ultimate plan could be put into action at long last, "But it seems to have the opposite effect. I'm truly grateful... when fully powered up I'll join myself to its circuits and be born anew."
"I thought you wanted to revive Clockwerk for some scheme to take over Paris." Diz stated, as that was the same conclusion that the gang had come up with, as Arpeggio could awaken Clockwerk and have him fulfill a dream of his before allowing the ancient owl to live once more, to do whatever he desired.
"Immortality! Immortality is what I seek." Arpeggio replied, though when he heard Diz's words he realized that some of them must have overheard his conversation with Bison, back when he was still in Nunavut Bay a few days ago, "The other Klaww Gang members were much too short-sighted. They were happy using the Clockwerk parts to drive their various trivial schemes. But not me. No, I saw them for what they truly were... the keys to life eternal!"
"So you had Neyla tell us about the Klaww Gang back in Cairo and then waited while we stole the parts from your cohorts," Carmelita said, her mind piecing together what they were learning and what they had thought about before they all came aboard this blimp, while at the same time understanding that Arpeggio had made a single mistake, "and, at the same time, you made sure not to arouse any suspicion with them that you were behind their parts being taken."
"You make it sound easy Cooper." Neyla said, once more calling Carmelita by the gang name, knowing full well that it annoyed her since she wasn't apart of Sly's family like everyone else was, not yet anyway, "I had to carry your pathetic gang through that first set of heists..."
"Excuse me?" Sly interrupted, feeling offended that Neyla thought that she had assisted them to the point where his gang's reputation would mean nothing, like they were novices that needed the help of experts, "Back when we were taking on Dimitri, when you handed us that key, Bentley was already figuring out a way inside, so we didn't actually need your help getting into the area that the disco ball was in. We also didn't need your help at the ball, despite the fact that you nearly blew your own cover in the process, and we would have recovered the half of Clockwerk's Heart that you led us to, as Rajan would have picked it up before leaving. You didn't carry us through anything, Neyla, you just offered a helping hand and we took it since the information was too good to pass up."
"Ah! But acquiring all the parts was only half the equation." Arpeggio said, returning them to the main topic of their conversation, as he was willing to indulge them for a few moments before he claimed what was his, "Think Cooper... what kept Clockwerk alive for thousands of years?"
"That's easy," Sly replied, to which he turned around for a moment and glanced at the head that was near him, as he knew that the soul inside the machinery was listening as he waited for his opportunity to strike, before he turned back towards Arpeggio and Neyla, "Clockwerk was fueled by his hatred for our family."
"Splendid, that's right! Hatred!" Arpeggio said, excitement appearing on his face, showing that he was pleased that they understood Clockwerk as well as he did, even though he was the one who wasn't aware of what was going on at the moment, "Putting his gears and wires together was child's play compared with accumulating that much hatred... especially when the only missing part is his Hate Chip. Fortunately I was able to build a replica of the actual chip and installed it after the parts were scattered among the other members of the Klaww Gang. And please, don't even bother saying that I can't make people hate, because my meticulous mind has already found a way to do just that. As your hippopotamus friend will attest, spice consumption makes you both angry and susceptible to hypnosis. The Contessa, hypnotist extraordinaire, devised a way to command people through the use of flashing lights. I've created this blimp to be a massive transmitter of those precise light frequencies. The only problem I faced was finding a suitable source of light waves."
"Oh my god... the Northern Lights!" Carmelita said, as now everything that they had heard back in Jean Bison's cabin made so much more sense, while at the same time she was happy that one of their binocucoms was turned on so Bentley could record all this for Secretary Sen, "You've been collecting Northern Light Energy so you could hypnotize everyone beneath the blimp. You're not on your way to Paris to take it over... you're going to Paris to unleash a hypnotic light show of hate. That's... outlandishly cruel."
"Cruel, perhaps, but necessary to give Clockwerk his spark of immortality!" Arpeggio stated, his tone revealing that he was growing tired of talking and revealing his plans, not that there was anything the Cooper Gang could do to stop his plans at the moment, "Ah... well, my new body awaits me. Be a dear, Neyla, and keep them covered. Ta-ta!"
"And what do you think Clockwerk will do when he finds an intruder in his body?" Sly asked, as that seemed to be the one thing that Arpeggio never considered, the possibility that part of Clockwerk had survived the battle at the volcano and had been lying in wait the entire time.
"Do you honestly believe that the old bird is still around, after you broke him?" Neyla asked, to which both she and Arpeggio chuckled for a moment, showing that neither one of them seemed to care what the gang thought and that they were unaware of what they had just done.
"Why don't you ask him yourself." Sly said, though at the same time he started to move out of the way and the others, not sure what he was doing, did so as well, but that was when everyone watched as Clockwerk's mouth closed and his eyes snapped open.
That was followed by the familiar sound of Clockwerk's laughter as he regained control of his metallic body, to which he started to rise before their very eyes as he made sure that everything was as he remembered, save for the inadequate replacement for his Hate Chip, which meant he'd have to stick around this ship for some time to restore his body to what it had been before his defeat.
I LIVE! Clockwerk declared, where Sly and the others moved to one side, because where their opponent was concerned he would either attack the gang, since the majority of them were Coopers, or he might attack Arpeggio and Neyla, for trying to use his body for their own purposes, before he stared down at the people around him, Sly Cooper, even when trying to stop my resurrection, you and your family did the only thing I would expect from the Cooper Clan... you allowed my body to be reassembled and let my soul live once more.
"Clockwerk." Sly said, knowing how dangerous the ancient owl could be, even when he was weakened in the matter than he was, and he didn't like their chances at the moment, not when both Arpeggio and Neyla were staring at him like they were going to beat him and insert themselves into the body, "We were trying to stop them from taking possession of your body, even if it meant pulling your parts away from each other, though it seems we failed in that rega..."
"Mr. Clockwerk, may I say that I am a fan of your work." Arpeggio spoke up, causing the ancient owl to turn his head towards him, where Sly and the others noticed that Clockwerk was studying the bird for a moment, while at the same time Neyla seemed to be moving into position for something, "Surely you can tell me the secret behind how you forged this immortal body of yours?"
No. Clockwerk said, answering the question instantly, though Sly was expecting that sort of answer and thought that Arpeggio was stupid for even asking such a thing, especially since the ancient owl was likely going to be very angry at the small bird for trying to use his body in such a way, My body was designed for one thing and one thing only, and that's getting my revenge on the Cooper Clan, thus proving that I, Clockwerk, am the ONLY Master Thief in the world! Fools like you would never understand the complexity of what I had to go through to create a lasting body, one that would survive decades, centuries, even millennia, just so I could have my revenge... though you will pay the price for your plans and attempted defilement of my body.
Arpeggio, not realizing that there was the possibility that Clockwerk would strike at them, barely had time to move before Clockwerk grabbed onto the top of his mobile walking device with his beak, causing Sly and the others to rapidly get out of the way as he hurled the device at one of the support beams for the blimp, denting it while damaging the device in the process. Neyla, taking the opportunity that was presented to her, rushed behind the ancient owl and used the small circular pump that she found over there, launching herself into the air as she readied her whip, intending to attack Clockwerk before he did anything else and open a weakness so she could take the body for herself. Clockwerk, on the other hand, sensed the attack was coming and swung his left wing towards her, smacking her with the full force of his powerful wing and knocked her into another one of the support beams, before she crumbled to the floor and simply laid there for a few moments without moving at all. Once that was done Clockwerk glared at Sly and the others, as if challenging them for a moment, before he flapped his wings and took off, where he tore his way through the front of the blimp and escaped from the area that Arpeggio had put his parts in.
Carmelita, knowing that Sly and the others wanted to take out Clockwerk before he escaped, walked over to where Neyla was and pressed her fingers against her neck, finding that the person that had tried to destroy her life was only unconscious at the moment. As such she picked Neyla up and placed her near the walkway that she and Arpeggio had walked down when they heard the sounds of Clockwerk's body hitting the floor, where she pulled out the pair of handcuffs she had been keeping on her, in case something like this happened, and gladly cuffed Neyla to the structure on her left. As that happened the others made sure that Arpeggio was alright as well, though it appeared that he was unconscious as well and, just like Neyla, happened to be bleeding from where their bodies hit something, though in Arpeggio's case it was the device he used to walk around in. The moment the five of them were sure that neither of them were going anywhere, when they woke up anyway, they headed towards the opening that Clockwerk had flown through and headed outside the blimp, where Gilda and Derpy carried Sly and Carmelita while Diz kept an eye out for their enemy.
Things had gone from bad to worse, that much they all knew, and Secretary Sen was going to want to know what Arpeggio and Neyla had been planning... as well as the fact that they were going to do everything in their power to bring about Clockwerk's end once more, and maybe this time ensure that he stays dead.
On their way back to their new safe house, at the end of Arpeggio's blimp, Sly and the others noticed that Clockwerk, despite being in control for the first time in two years, wasn't straying too far away from the blimp and seemed to be flying around it every now and then. It was like he was either surveying his new surroundings, since the last thing he should remember was the gang beating him at the Krack-Karov Volcano, leeching energy from the engines to make sure that his body was working as he remembered it, or maybe he was observing them as they headed back to where Bentley and Murray were waiting for them to return. When they returned to the battery that was their safe house they discovered that Bentley was already hard at work studying all the parts of the blimp that were around them, how the power seemed to flow between all the sections that Arpeggio had installed to make it fly, where he could find computer terminals, and anything else that caught his attention at the moment. He also told them, once they shut the 'door' behind them, that he had already sent work to Secretary Sen about the situation, so that he knew exactly what Arpeggio and Neyla had been planning, before they sat down and let him continue working.
Fortunately it didn't take Bentley long to figure out a plan of attack, so they could weaken Clockwerk to the point where Derpy, Gilda, and Diz could unleash their magic again and destroy the ancient owl, like they did when they fought him the first time around. In order to reach that point Bentley revealed that they needed to disable the four engines that were located around the blimp, as he had detected several power shifts coming from each one of them and already knew that they were what Clockwerk was drawing power from. At the same time he warned them that this was only going to be possible if they all worked together, something he knew that they could do given how well they had done all the previous jobs up to this point, and warned them to be weary of the sky, since Clockwerk was likely going to be watching them as they worked to disable the engines. There was even one engine that Bentley had gone over multiple times while they were making their way to the blimp, one that was heavily reinforced to the point where the only option was to blow it to pieces, and he had an idea in mind to get at that one as well.
The plan was simple, as Bentley would be starting off by having Diz carry him to the computer terminals that were around the flying fortress so he could hack the door and let Murray into the first engine room, though as they did that both Sly and Carmelita would pick the pockets of several guards and take their keys, so they could give them to Bentley and let him enter the area that the second engine was located in. After Diz did that, and dropped Bentley off at the second engine room, he would assist Gilda in breaking the wall mounted power stations that were scattered around the area, before one of them headed inside to take out the third engine before the guards responded to what the gang was doing. While all of this was going on Derpy would be waiting by the fourth and final engine, gathering power from the clouds so she could blow the engine apart with her lightning, but at the same time the rest of the gang would bring a TNT barrel, with three powerful magnetic chargers attached to it, up to her target, where Bentley said the combined power between the lightning and the explosives would be enough to ruin that engine beyond repair. Once all four of the engines were taken out, and Bentley was sure that they were no longer powering Clockwerk's body, he, Murray, Sly, and Carmelita would have to stand back and watch Gilda, Derpy, and Diz fight the ancient owl, as Bentley had discovered that magic was the only thing that Clockwerk's body had no defenses against.
After Bentley finished explaining what they needed to do, and noticed that Secretary Sen hadn't gotten back to them yet, the gang got underway as they moved into position, though since his starting point was nearby he waited for a few minutes to be sure that everyone was where they were supposed to be before they got this operation started.
"He's observing us." Diz commented, to which Bentley looked and saw that she was staring at the ancient owl at the moment, who was currently perched one of the nearby blimps and seemed to be staring down at them, though at the same time he was sure that Clockwerk was following Sly, "He really hates the Cooper Clan, doesn't he?"
"Yes, he does." Bentley said, though at the same time he thought about the tales that were in the Thievius Raccoonus and realized that not one of them, the ones he had read so far, seemed to detail what even caused the mortal owl to replace his entire body with soulless machinery, before infusing said machine with his hate filled soul, "And yet, when you think about the stories inside the family tome, not one of them mentions the owl that eventually became Clockwerk, so there's no way for us to figure out what drove him to hate the Cooper Clan as much as he does."
Bentley was also interested in the fact that Arpeggio had said something about a Hate Chip, something that the small bird had replicated, and found himself thinking about the chip that Derpy was wearing around her neck, something that she found after they bested Clockwerk two years ago. He had to wonder if the chip that Derpy had found was actually an important part of Clockwerk, one that Arpeggio must have been searching for in his spare time and couldn't find because it was in a place he couldn't access, since it was around Derpy's neck. If she was carrying the Hate Chip on her, like he was beginning to suspect that he was, then it was a good thing that she had picked it up when she did, otherwise he was sure that Clockwerk would have left the blimp and disappeared until he was ready to attack them again, as the situation forced him to remain close at hand. He also knew why the owl was interested in observing them like he was, because two years ago it had been Sly, Derpy, and Gilda, with the aid of Inspector Fox, that was arrayed against him, though now it was the Cooper Gang with seven members, one of which he was unfamiliar with.
The ancient owl was trying to prepare himself for the fight that he knew was coming, as he was attempting to learn all he could about the thieves that were arrayed against him, which was why he wasn't moving from his perch and was observing how they worked like a team.
A few moments later, after he shelved his thoughts, the rest of the gang checked in and revealed that they were all ready to get the operation underway, to which Bentley had them all get started on their various objectives the moment he tapped the command key on his console, revealing the locations of said objectives to the rest of the gang. From that moment forward Bentley and Diz moved towards the first of the three computers he needed to hack into, while Diz kept an eye on the guards and knocked them out if they got too close, thus allowing Bentley to work in peace while the others started gathering everything they needed to tackle three of the engines at the same time. The moment Bentley hacked into the first computer he beckoned Diz over, to which he was ferried over to where the second of the three computers rested and went to work the instant they arrived, making Diz happy that he was working so fast, as she was still worried about the fact that Clockwerk was staring at them all as they moved around the flying fortress. A minute later and Bentley had claimed the second computer, to which Diz moved him over to the third one, which was in front of the entrance to the engine room that Murray was supposed to take on, and rapidly hacked his way through the computer that was in front of them... to which he forced the door open and Murray, who was standing by, walked into the engine room, though as Diz readied himself, so he could take Bentley to where Sly and Carmelita were waiting, they heard the sound of metal breaking and Murray beating something up.
Instead of questioning it Diz took Bentley over to the second engine room, where they found both Sly and Carmelita waiting with the five keys that they had stolen from the guards that were supposed to be holding them, to which they opened the way and Bentley slipped inside to do his part of the operation. Once Bentley was inside the engine room both Sly and Carmelita headed out to get the TNT barrel and the three magnetic charges that they had been told about, so they could help Derpy blow the final engine to pieces, allowing Diz to head back down to an area near the safe house and meet up with Gilda. From there the two of them used their magical powers to blow the five wall mounted power stations to pieces, despite the fact that they were scattered all over the flying fortress, though it didn't take the two of them long to find their targets and break them. When they headed to the third engine, however, they discovered that Murray was standing nearby and had pried open the door the moment he found out the fifth power station had been taken out, allowing Gilda to head inside and get to work tearing the place apart. Murry stood by the door, to open it again when Gilda was ready to leave, to which Diz headed out and helped Carmelita out, as she was making sure Sly's path to the three magnetic charges was unobstructed, since he was the one crawling around in the TNT barrel at the moment... though while all that was going on Diz also noticed that Clockwerk seemed to be staring at the fourth engine now, where Derpy was gathering her power to damage the engine to the point where it wouldn't work for some time.
As she and the others started to gather near the fourth engine, and the ones that were inside the other two finished their tasks and came outside, lightning flashed through the clouds that were some distance above Arpeggio's blimp, all centered around Derpy. Diz smiled for a moment, as she loved watching the way Derpy was able to either call upon the power of an already existing storm and use it to their advantage, or even cause one to be created in a small area so she could use the power of the sky to destroy something. While her power might be chaotic and random by nature, which they couldn't figure out at all, both of her sisters possessed a natural affinity for the elemental forces that had shaped this world at one point in time and were incredibly powerful when they set their mind to something, and watching them use their power to break things was fun in it's own right. While she thought about all that Gilda, Murray, Bentley, and Carmelita stood near her as Sly delivered both the TNT barrel and the magnetic charges before clearing out to the safe spot they were standing on... though that was followed by Derpy, her single eye ablaze with magical power, summoned the power of the storm and hurled it down towards the engine room.
At first it seemed to pierce the center of the TNT barrel and go straight through the room itself, causing some confusion in the others as they stared at it, though that was before the true power of the storm raced down towards the room and struck it... where the entire structure exploded and parts flew everywhere as the blimp rocked, shaken by the suddenness of an entire engine room being destroyed in an instant.
"Derpy, I think you might have used a little too much power in that attack," Gilda commented, looking at the burning remains of what used to be an engine room with a look of surprise on her face, which was mirrored in the faces of the rest of the gang, before she glanced at her sister, "I mean, you were supposed to disable the engine room... and you ended up blowing it to pieces."
"I figured that, since our enemy is Clockwerk, that we might as well take the time to make sure he doesn't get the upper hand before we're ready." Derpy stated, to which she turned and looked at the ancient mechanical owl that was still sitting on it's perch, observing them and how they worked as a team, though she actually wondered if Clockwerk was doing something else at the moment.
"I guess there's not much else we can do at the moment," Carmelita said, as while she was hoping to get another crack at the ancient owl that had hunted Sly's family for years, and killed his father and took Derpy's eye, she knew that she needed to stay at Sly's side, as this was a battle between magic users and a seemingly immortal owl, "we'll be back at the safe house. Hopefully Secretary Sen knows where the blimp is located by now, otherwise we might need to come up with a way to tell him where we're located."
Diz knew that the rest of the gang wanted to help, especially since their opponent was one of the worst criminals that had ever walked the Earth, or flew he guessed since Clockwerk had wings, and there was no telling what he was going to do this time around, when he was beaten. Diz had been told the story of how Derpy lost her eye and how both she and Gilda had gained their powers in the first place, as it had been during their first fight with Clockwerk two years ago, and already understood that now was the time to be careful, especially since their foe's talons were sharp enough to cut their way through some of the toughest metal in the world. As Carmelita and the others headed back towards the safe house, so they could watch what was going to happen next, the three of them stood near each other and focused their minds for a moment, to which their individual auras appeared around them as they took to the skies and only came to a stop when they were near Clockwerk's perch... though the flapping of their wings was enough to cause the ancient owl to open his eyes, as he must have closed them to think about something after Derpy's display, and the trio readied themselves.
What none of them were expecting, however, was for Clockwerk to stare at them for a few seconds as one of his metallic eyebrows started to rise up, indicating that he was either shocked by something or he was simply confused as to what he was seeing.
Your aura is pink. Clockwerk stated, staring at the red aura that had gathered around Gilda Cooper and the blue aura that was doing the same to Derpy Cooper, though what was shocking to him was the female hyena, who had a small pair of feathered wings coming out of her back, that had a pink aura around her body.
"Look, I would have liked a green aura, or even a yellow aura, but I got stuck with pink." Diz replied, though she had to resist the urge to bring her palm to her face, as this was the one thing about her powers that she disliked, because when she was really focusing her energy, like Gilda and Derpy did, her aura surrounded her and this happened, and a number of people, not members of the gang, thought she was gay no matter what form she was in, "But we didn't come here to talk about my aura... we came here to fight you and put you back where you belong!"
Come, thieves of the Cooper Clan, Clockwerk declared, spreading his wings not a moment later, showing that he was ready for a fight, even if the group knew that he actually wasn't based on the fact that they had smashed through the engines before he was able to draw a good deal of energy from them, It's time I showed you the terrifying power of Clockwerk and claim my rightful place as the one who beat you.
Gilda flared her aura and burst forward, faking Clockwerk into taking to the sky, before she corrected her course and moved to the side as the wind bent to her will, where she formed a pair of blades from the wind itself, though if Clockwerk was surprised by that he got quite the shock when Derpy did something similar. What Derpy did was hold her hand towards the sky and bolts of lightning formed above her hand, which she hurled at their opponent, forcing him to dodge the attacks and come right into the direct path of Diz's magic, though that was essentially energy that allowed her to blast their opponent. Diz had to resist using the pure chaotic nature of her power against Clockwerk, since there was no telling what might happen to the ancient owl, but for the most part it seemed like simply dancing around the area and loosing blasts were fine for the moment, even though some of her blasts were used to blow up the small missiles that were fired in her direction, just like Gilda and Derpy did to the few missiles that were heading their way. At the same time, however, both Gilda and Derpy noticed that there was another blast from the past coming towards them, as Clockwerk launched several spinning rings that they could either dodge completely or knock open and fly through the center... though it appeared that such a tactic was so he could charge up the power in his eyes and loose a powerful blast at whoever he was aiming at.
Derpy, being the first target of that attack, only smiled as she blasted the energy shot with her own power, causing an explosion between the two of them, though at the same time that only gave her, Gilda, and Diz the opportunity to get around to a better position to attack Clockwerk, while also making sure to stay away from his talons. They knew how dangerous Clockwerk's body was, especially his talons, and flew around the area that was around them, looking for an opening that they could exploit while they blew up the missiles that were being fired at them at the same time. A few moments passed before Gilda grinned, as she spotted something that could be used to their advantage, because when both Derpy and Diz got close to their metallic foe and distracted him with their presence as they flew over the flying fortress. The moment Clockwerk was distracted Gilda gathered her power around her and flew towards the ancient owl, where she slammed her fist into the side of his face and knocked him to the side, though as Clockwerk regained himself he noticed something, his regeneration ability, as he suspected when he found that his Hate Chip had been replaced by an inferior chip, wasn't working. Derpy grinned as she saw that, as it meant that the battle had shifted to their side, before she sent a surge of lightning right into their opponent's chest, which pushed him backwards while causing him to growl in pain, like he had done during their first fight, before Diz sent a powerful chaotic blast into the exposed weakness she had created and blasted Clockwerk right into the heart of the fortress.
When Clockwerk emerged from the burning wreckage of the heart of Arpeggio's blimp, which was on fire from the collision of him hitting the area, he was missing sections of both his wings, some of his feathers, and part of his back, but instead of giving up Clockwerk turned towards the battery at the back of the fortress and flew towards it. The trio watched as he snatched the battery as the blimp started to shatter around them, carrying it off in the direction of Paris and forcing them to follow after him, though at the same time Diz channeled her power and snatched the pieces of Clockwerk that had broken off, just to make sure they had all of it for when they destroyed the ancient owl.
Because of the fact that the three of them could fly they were able to catch up with the large owl that was flying towards Paris, though when they caught up with him they discovered that the only thing he was capable of doing was trying to blast his targets with the power of his eyes. As they flew around Clockwerk, however, they discovered that they weren't the only ones fighting him, as Neyla, already conscious from her beating and still had the handcuff Carmelita put on her on one of her wrists, with part of the metal pole attached to it, appeared on a helicopter's gun and started firing at the ancient owl. From what they could tell she had managed to rouse Arpeggio enough so they could escape the blimp, but then they apparently decided to try and take advantage of the fact that Clockwerk was in the middle of a battle so they could attempt to fulfill their own goals regarding the owl's metallic body. Despite that fact the three siblings focused their attention on Clockwerk, as he was the more immediate threat, but as they soon discovered the owl seemed like he was getting weaker and weaker as the seconds ticked by, which had to be because of what Arpeggio did to him. That thought appeared to be proven correct a few moments later, as the ancient owl screeched in pain for a moment and dropped the battery, which Gilda caught with her wind magic and gently lowered it to the ground.
While she did that, and both Derpy and Diz followed after her, Clockwerk fell from the sky and crashed into the ground near where she was setting the battery down, though they noticed that they were out the outskirts of Paris at the moment, which meant that they had stopped their opponent from reaching the city... and, at the same time, it didn't appear that Clockwerk had any defenses that could be activated to protect his body, and there was some smoke coming from his open mouth.
"It almost feels like we're back at the Krack-Karov Volcano," Sly commented, standing on a platform as he and the rest of the gang stared at Clockwerk, trying to come up with some way of beating him, permanently, since smashing his head in didn't seem to work, "we beat him, smashed his head in, and seemed to have stopped him... and yet he survived. I'm not sure how we're supposed to permanently kill Clockwerk."
"Arpeggio mentioned a Hate Chip, remember?" Bentley asked, reminding the group of the one thing that the final member of the Klaww Gang had to create so Clockwerk's body could be used again, "This is a guess, but I have the feeling that it might be the reason he's still operational."
"I think we should stand back for the moment," Murray said, where he pointed at the smoke that was coming from the ancient owl's mouth, something that he didn't trust since this was the enemy of Sly's family line, "I think that chip is going to explode."
Clockwerk, as if hearing Murray's words, surprised the gang once more as he shuddered for a moment and forced himself back into a standing position, as if he was going to continue fighting despite the fact that his regeneration ability had been broken. What happened next, however, was Clockwerk letting out another screech of pain as the replica Hate Chip glowed brightly for a moment, as the entire thing looked like it was being cooked from the sheer amount of power that was required to fuel the body and all of it's systems, before the replica chip exploded. It was like a small scale bomb going off, as the explosion tore the majority of Clockwerk's body apart, as the wings crashed to the ground on either side of his body, which was vastly damaged by the explosion, and the other parts they had collected fell all over the area around them, while the only thing that seemed to remain intact was his head, where his eyes were closed. As the gang stood there, staring at the smouldering wreckage of the ancient owl, Bentley walked forward so he could finally start studying the ancient body for anything that they might be able to use to permanently destroy him and jumped up into the metallic mouth to get a better look... though before he could do anything a missile struck what was left of Clockwerk's back and loosened the upper part of his beak, which crushed Bentley in the process, much to the shock and terror of everyone that was gathered near the ancient owl.
Fortunately Murray was quick to react and rushed over to the ancient owl, to which he pried open the mouth, where he and the rest of the gang found that Bentley seemed to be okay, only to discover that the impact had crushed his legs and forced Murray to carefully pick him up before moving away from remains of the ancient owl... and, at the same time, the group turned and found Neyla standing next to the helicopter she had been riding in, complete with a rocket launcher in one of her hands.
"Serves the turtle right for trying to take what's mine." Neyla commented, to which she lowered the rocket launcher, as it appeared that she had used the only rocket she had to damage Clockwerk further and wound Bentley in the process, before she started to pull out her whip, "Now then, hand over the Hate Chip and we'll take care of Clockwerk."
"Neyla, you're an absolute idiot." Carmelita replied, to which she stepped in front of the gang and put herself between the people that were willing to assist her in trying to get her Interpol career back without asking for anything in return, which was something that her Interpol friends didn't want to do, "The replica Hate Chip that Arpeggio put in Clockwerk's body wasn't able to handle the stress of the power that's needed to operate the body... you'd never be able to fully use the body, even if you managed to force Clockwerk out. Besides, I can't give you the Hate Chip, and that's because no one knows where the real one is located, as it was lost after we beat Clockwerk the first time around, back at the Krack-Karov Volcano. Now then, let's get the show on the road; Captain Neyla, for your crimes against both Interpol and myself, and for being a member of the Klaww Gang, I hereby place you under arr..."
"Please, you don't have the authority to arrest anyone anymore." Neyla chuckled, to which she tapped her own badge for a moment, because while she was mad about the chip being destroyed in such a manner she also knew that she still had the upper hand, "Director Barkley should be here any minute now and he'll find that I have bested both the Cooper Gang and captured Arpeggio, meaning that he'll take my side over yours any day of the week. Face it, Carmelita, your days as a cop are over and you'll be sentenced to prison like the criminal that you rea..."
"I would suggest that you refrain from finishing that sentence." a voice said, to which the entire Cooper Gang, even Bentley, smiled as they found Secretary Sen standing behind Neyla, while at the same time the squad that he had brought with him were in the process of arresting Arpeggio and seizing the helicopter, though that was before a frown appeared on Neyla's face as she backed up and stared at the Secretary, who raised a hand and ripped her captain's badge from where it was resting, "The Cooper Gang told me everything that you did to them, and I've found out many things that Barkley seems to have ignored when you were being interviewed for joining Interpol, so I only have one thing I want to say to you at the moment. Neyla, for the crimes that Carmelita mentioned, and the ones I have discovered recently, I hereby place you under arrest and suggest that you say nothing... not that it matters, since you're looking at a life's sentence without any hope of getting parole."
Neyla growled and lashed out with her whip, where it wrapped around Secretary Sen's outstretched hand, the same one that was holding her captain's badge, though as everyone around them gasped, as they couldn't believe that she was actually attacking Secretary Sen, she used that to launch herself at him and swung her claws, cutting two gashes into the side of his face before she landed where she had been seconds ago.
"I'm not scared of you, Secretary Sen." Neyla stated, though that was when a look of confusion appeared on her face, as the gashes she had cut into her target's face started to seal themselves before her eyes, to the point where it looked like he hadn't been hurt at all.
"You're not scared of me?" Secretary Sen asked, though instead of chuckling or anything he sighed as he unbuttoned his jacket and shirt, which he handed to one of the officers that had followed him to this area, revealing that he was more muscular than what the gang thought he was, before both the gang and the officers moved out of the way, as it was clear that he had something planned, "Neyla, you should be scared of me. Of the five Secretaries that control the governing body of Interpol, who are both respected and feared by both cops and criminals alike, I am the strongest and the most feared of the five at the same time. Now, allow me to show you the terrifying power that I command."
The moment that Secretary Sen said that Gilda, Derpy, and Diz, all attuned to feeling magic thanks to their training with Mz. Ruby, felt an energy spike in the air that was centered around that man that Neyla had offended, though that was followed by the ground around him cracking as he released his power. That was swiftly followed by small bits of the ground lifting themselves from the ground for a few moments, though as the three of them figured out what was going on at the moment they understood the reason why he had removed the jacket and shirt he had been wearing as a fiery aura wrapped around him and pushed pressure on everyone that was around them, causing them to raise their hands as he was shrouded from their sight for the moment. The area around them cracked and broke as Secretary Sen's power was revealed to the Cooper Gang, along with a stunned Neyla that was still standing there, before his power surged outward and some of the area was set on fire... though not a few seconds later Secretary Sen emerged from the flames with his flaming aura surrounding him, while at the same time the siblings felt his intense power as he started to approach the person that was his target.
This very moment allowed the gang to understand why Carmelita had been so worried about all of them talking to Secretary Sen two years ago, and why Sly had been frightened before the first meeting, though no one said anything as the powerful man stopped in front of Neyla.
"The reason why I am the most feared and respected Secretary is because I can use magic as well." Secretary Sen said, to which he raised his right hand and gently rested it against Neyla's forehead, where her eyes widened as flames began to dance around his hand, indicating that she was terrified of what was happening at the moment, "I'm authorized by the other four Secretaries to use lethal force if necessary, and my flames could reduce someone to ashes in mere seconds, if I were to target someone. You have two options, Neyla, either resist arrest and try your luck, which I would recommend you avoid doing, or surrender to me and accept your fate, knowing that your life would be over in a different way."
Neyla stood there for a few seconds, where the gang noticed that she was clearly thinking about what was going on at the moment, before she fell to her knees and simply stared at the ground, showing that she didn't want to run from someone that could easily overpower her and defeat her in such a manner, to which Secretary Sen smiled a little and called his power back into his body. Once he was back to normal, or at least as normal as he had been before he revealed the power he commanded, he nodded his head and one of his officers walked forward and cuffed Neyla, while a second one, who was carrying the jacket and shirt, handed them back to him, which he put back on as they were handed to him. A few moments later a defeated Neyla was hauled off with an angry Arpeggio, who was shocked by the fact that they had pissed off such a powerful man thanks to what Neyla had done, and the helicopter was taken as well, though Secretary Sen had them leave the still broken body of Clockwerk where the pieces were resting. The gang waited for a few moments, letting the officers disperse as they hauled all the evidence out of the area, before it was only the seven of them and Secretary Sen, who was staring at the pieces of the ancient owl that were resting in front of him... before he sighed and turned towards the group, where he locked eye with Carmelita.
"Carmelita Fox," Secretary Sen said, to which Carmelita stepped forward, as she could either be praised for her efforts in trying to stop this from happening, despite Neyla's betrayal, or she could be punished for allowing Clockwerk to be brought back to life in such a manner, "thanks to the information that we have received from Bentley, in terms of all the things that Neyla has done and said against you, I have already issued an order that your name be cleared. Director Barkley might not like people telling him what to do, even if they are his superiors, but at the very least you'll find that your old job is still waiting for you... unless you've found a new calling as a Cooper Thief."
Carmelita looked down at herself, as she was still dressed in her thief attire and the bag containing her cop attire and weapon were nearby, and discovered that she really didn't have an answer for that statement, as part of her wanted to continue being a cop, while the other part wanted her to be closer to Sly... and yet, even as she thought about it, she found Sly's hand on her shoulder and a smile on his face, indicating that he would support her no matter what choice she decided to make, just like the rest of the gang.
"Secretary Sen, I'd be more than happy to return to my old job in a few days," Carmelita said, knowing that they all needed some time to unwind from their adventure, especially since it wasn't over since Clockwerk was still a threat to them, but she was sure that the Secretary had something planned for the ancient owl.
"Excellent. Now that leaves one more piece of business," Secretary Sen said, though the look on his face told them that he was pleased to see that Carmelita would go back to work as a cop, since he felt that she was one of their best agents at the moment, before he turned in Derpy's direction for a moment, "Derpy Cooper, two years ago you said that you found something after beating Clockwerk at the Krack-Karov Volcano, a computer chip that you had no idea why you had picked it up and were told to keep it safe by Mz. Ruby. Do you still have it?"
Derpy raised a hand to her neck for a moment and carefully removed the chip that she had turned into a necklace, one that only a select number of people even realized that she possessed, and stared at it for a moment, to which her eye widened as she realized that it looked identical to the replica Hate Chip that they had seen before it exploded.
"Everyone said that the Hate Chip was missing and might never be found," Derpy said, remembering what Arpeggio and everyone else, especially Carmelita, had said before this moment, before she turned towards the still open beak that was resting nearby and stared at the receptacle that the replica had been resting in, "now it all makes sense. The reason they were never able to find it wasn't because it was missing or lost to time, it's because I've been carrying it for the last two years. I've been carrying the key to permanently destroy Clockwerk the entire time... and yet, as I look at this chip, I don't feel anything that resembles hate."
Sly stared at the chip that Derpy was holding in her hands, still surprised that she could have kept something like that hidden from the Klaww Gang without them even noticing that she had it, but instead of doing anything Derpy nodded to Diz, whose magic wove through the air and started to pull the owl back together. The gang stood there as the pieces of Clockwerk slowly pulled themselves back together, forming the terrifying form that they all knew, before Diz lowered her hand and backed away. That was when Derpy walked towards Clockwerk's body and disconnected the chip from what she had been using to tie it around her neck, where she simply stared at the chip that was apparently the most important part of the ancient owl and knew they were fortunate to keep it from Arpeggio. The gang watched as she stopped beside the open beak, as it was clear that she was being cautious, as this could either awaken Clockwerk or it could do nothing, before she sighed and gently shoved the chip into the receptacle that she, Gilda, and Sly had knocked it out of when they beat the ancient owl the first time around. For a few seconds nothing happened, even as she drew her hand back, but eventually the body started to stir and the gang readied themselves once more as Derpy backed away from the head, to which they watched as the beak closed and the wings started to move, showing that life was flowing back into the ancient owl... before his wings moved more than they were expecting, as Clockwerk covered his head for a moment and made a pained sound, like he was having a headache or something.
When Clockwerk folded his wings back up, along with him standing up and staring down at them, Sly found that the usual red glow in his eyes was missing, as that had been a sign of his unending hate, and now he had a strange blue glow, like he was full of hope or something.
What... did you do to me? Clockwerk demanded, though the tone in his voice revealed that whatever Derpy had done to the Hate Chip, from just it being in her possession for the last two years, had changed the makeup of the chip and it was affecting the ancient owl, What... what is this strange sensation, one that I haven't felt in ages, that I'm feeling?
"Love, hope, happiness, and a few others that I'm not going to name at the moment," Derpy said, because while she had been confused as to why Mz. Ruby and Secretary Sen had wanted her to keep the chip close to her, when Mz. Ruby originally discovered that it was in her possession, now she understood, because the Voodoo Priestess had seen the potential for something to happen with the chip, "I guess the feelings I have for my family and friends rubbed off on the chip, transforming it into something else entirely... something that's allowing you to feel emotions that you haven't felt since the day you became what you are."
"I guess this means that he'll be staying with us?" Diz asked, though at the same time the gang turned towards him, because it seemed that, in the midst of everything that had happened, his use of magic had finally snapped him back to his original form, while at the same time they noticed that there was a confused look on the ancient owl's face, "Um, how are we going to hide him?"
Clockwerk, apparently not liking the idea of being anywhere near the gang, opened his wings like he was going to take off, but then he noticed the glance from Secretary Sen and recalled what he had done to Neyla, even if he was only knocked out for the moment, before folding his wings back in. A moment later his body glowed and he started to shrink before their eyes, becoming an ordinary sized owl that one would find in the woods or something, except for the fact that he was made of metal still. Sly guessed that this was some sort of defense or stealth mechanism that he had built into his body, as no one would even glance at an owl more than once and wouldn't notice what he was made of, which might have explained how he was able to find his father without his father noticing that Clockwerk was in the area. He could also tell that the ancient owl, who may or may not still hate the Cooper Clan, was unhappy with the idea of being added to the gang, and truth be told Sly wasn't too keen on it either, but he knew better than to argue with Secretary Sen, who hadn't even told them to do anything... he just knew that the Secretary was putting the metallic owl in their care and expected them to watch over him, and punish him if necessary.
As Secretary Sen turned to leave, however, Sly knew that one chapter of their lives had finally been brought to a close and that it was only a matter of time until another chapter opened... though at the moment he hoped that it was a long time before they needed to do anything like this again.
The Cooper Gang, with the unexpected addition of Clockwerk, spent the next week trying to relax and put their worries behind them for the moment, though the first thing Sly did was take Bentley to the same hospital that had checked out Derpy two years ago. Unfortunately things weren't that pleasant for his friend, as the doctors told Bentley that he wouldn't be able to walk and that he would need a wheelchair, which made Sly sad and angry when he heard the news, but at the same time he was caught off guard when Bentley said that he wasn't going to have any of that. At first Sly thought he meant the fact that he was crippled, but in reality he was referring to Sly's emotions on the matter, like he thought that Sly might think of him as a burden, and immediately set out to make something that would allow him to continue being an active member of the team, despite his new paralysis. The gang felt that Bentley was being strong, despite what had Neyla had done to him before her arrest, even though that was sadly followed by Murray declaring that he blamed himself for what happened and actually left the team to get some enlightenment or understanding, shocking the entire gang in the process, since he had been with them since the beginning.
What also shocked Sly was that when Bentley started making modifications to the wheelchair that he was going to be confined to, despite the fact that he was still looking into treatments that might be able to cure him, there was someone else working with him. Clockwerk, somehow feeling guilty that it was because of his body that Bentley was hurt in such a manner, and forced one of his friends to leave for an unknown period of time, started to assist the crippled turtle and helped him piece together something that would serve him well. Sly didn't know if the ancient owl, who remained in his miniature owl state to avoid being detected, was actually trying to make amends for the thousands of years he had hunted the Cooper Clan or if he was actually feeling sorry for what happened to Bentley, but at the same time he still didn't trust him and kept his eyes on him. He refused to believe that the Hate Chip, after spending two years around Derpy's neck, would have allowed such a drastic change in the owl's behavior, which was why he continued to keep taps on what he was doing and who he was with... and yet, despite all that, he found that Clockwerk only cared to remain near Bentley, assisting him with his modifications to his wheelchair.
Carmelita spent most of the week they took off hanging with the gang, or more specifically Sly, and she also shared some of his thoughts in regards to the ancient owl that was now hiding out with them, since it appeared that magic was the only way to harm him in an extreme manner and the threat of Secretary Sen's fire being his opponent had done something to him. When she wasn't spending time with Sly, or checking in with the gang, she was making sure that her affairs were in order and that nothing had changed since she had been captured by the Contessa, who was also serving a life's sentence behind bars with Neyla, as punishment for ignoring a Secretary's orders and being one of the members of the Klaww Gang that had stolen the Clockwerk parts. She actually found out that Secretary Sen had told the other four Secretaries the truth about what happened on Arpeggio's blimp, about Clockwerk's revival, and where the ancient owl was located, but at the same time the five of them agreed that the world would be better off thinking that the parts had been destroyed and that Clockwerk was no more, even though his legacy was forever attached to that of the Cooper Clan, which actually pleased the owl when she told him the news.
Gilda, Derpy, and Diz also spent the majority of their time relaxing, though what time they didn't spend doing that was either spent on practicing the Cooper Techniques inside their training area or practicing their magic, while making sure Diz didn't go overboard and get trapped in his female form for a long time again. Diz just said that it was the chaotic nature of his powers and that he would just have to suffer through the changes when they happened, just like he had suffered through being a chick for the last few operations they had been on after he woke up a few statues to act as golems for a few minutes. Of the three of them the only one that actually trusted Clockwerk was Derpy, as she had been the one to carry the Hate Chip around with her for the last two years and felt that it was some of her emotions that had brought up the same emotions that Clockwerk had sealed away to become the hateful owl he had been. Gilda and Diz didn't trust him as much as their sister did, as they had their own various reasons for acting that way, but in the end they decided that Bentley would tell them if something happened, such as Clockwerk betraying them or something, and went on with their lives to the best of their abilities.
Of course the gang was happy to hear the punishments that the Contessa and Neyla would be getting, since they had fooled Interpol and had tried to destroy Carmelita's life, and even Clockwerk was pleased, even though they were going to jail for the rest of their lives... but it was when the week was over, when Carmelita decided that it was time that she got back to her job as a cop, and was dressed in her cop attire while carrying her shock pistol once more, that misfortune rained on them.
Carmelita sighed as she entered the Interpol building that Sly and his sisters had snuck into two years ago to get the police file she had prepared to use as bait to lure him out into the open, as she had been planning on arresting him that night and he managed to get away, and thought about what she had learned since she had last been here. From what Neyla's disk had said all of her co-workers, save for a very select few that she either didn't ask questions to or they weren't present the day she pestered them, believed that she wasn't innocent of the crimes that Neyla and the Contessa had blamed her for, meaning that they believed that she deserved what had happened to her. That fact hurt more than she was willing to admit, that none of them were willing to come and get the truth for themselves, and yet she kept a straight face as she walked by the front desk, ignoring the glare the clerk was giving her, and walked up the stairs to the floor that her office was located on. The only problem she had with using the stairs was that she could bump into a number of her co-workers and would likely be harassed by them, or even worse she could run into Barkley while she was heading towards her destination, but she needed to take some risks and hoped that her co-workers had cooled off.
Of course things couldn't be that easy for her as she reached the floor that she was heading to, as the moment she walked out into the open she could hear all the conversations that had been going on stop as she walked out of the area the stairs were in... and, as she headed towards her office, she could feel the eyes of her co-workers following her, silently judging her and accusing her at the same time.
"Hey Carmelita!" a friendly voice said, to which she turned towards the window and found the one of the few co-workers who hadn't been on the disk, as Bentley had created a list of faces for her to look at, to know who didn't trust her anymore, standing beside the window with a smile on her face.
Judy Hopps was shorter than most of the officers and staff that were in the Interpol building, which was because she was a rabbit, but at the same time she more than made up for her short stature by catching the criminals that she was sent to investigate and making sure that she had more than enough evidence to send them to jail. Unlike most of the staff she wore clothing that covered the majority of her body and didn't restrict her movements, allowing her to chase down her targets without falling behind, though at the same time she even claimed that she still didn't understand Carmelita's choice of attire, despite her explaining it several times. She had eventually picked up on the fact that Judy was only teasing her and that she meant no hard feelings towards her, since Carmelita was both her friend and one of her superiors, which was why she was glad that Judy hadn't been in the office the day that Neyla asked her questions, as it could have easily turned the entire building into a war zone, since she disliked it when people tried to throw someone under the bus.
"Hey Judy, how was Europe?" Carmelita asked, finding that she could smile, despite the glances the others were giving her, as she approached her cop friend, who she hadn't seen for some time since she had been busy in Europe before the Clockwerk parts were stolen by the Klaww Gang.
"It would have been nicer if I wasn't chasing a criminal down," Judy replied, which was what Carmelita was expecting to hear, since that was the reason she had gone down there in the first place, though at the same time she was happy to see that she was fine, before Judy glanced at some of their co-workers that were staring at them, "Say Carmelita, why are some of our co-workers staring at us like we committed some crime that we're getting away with?"
"Come on, I'll tell you back at my office," Carmelita said, knowing that it was the best place for them to talk, as it was away from the eyes of their co-workers, many of which she didn't trust at the moment since they freely told Neyla that they felt that she was guilty and deserved her punishment.
She had been hoping for a brief conversation in the safety of her office, where the others wouldn't bother her and Judy, though as they rounded the corner, and spotted the red door that belonged to her office, Carmelita nearly froze when she found the glass part of the door had been shattered... and, when they walked into her office, the entire place looked like it had been torn apart, and not in the manner that a thief would have used if they were looking for something, or if they were trying to mess with someone.
"I... I can't believe them," Carmelita said, looking at the damage that had been caused to her office, though at the same time she was thankful that she left anything meaningful back at her place, as she was sure that the pictures would have been smashed and any personal belongings would have been taken with no hope of getting them back.
"Carmelita, what's going on?" Judy asked again, because she could handle co-workers giving each other glares all the time, as she had a few since she was still young and was almost at Carmelita's level, earning her some glances as well, but this seemed different than that, "Why are our co-workers staring at you like they are? And why has your office been vandalized in such a manner? I bet it was Sly Cooper that..."
"Sly didn't do this... he wouldn't." Carmelita replied, causing a look of surprise to appear on Judy's face, though she knew that it was because she always called Sly 'Ringtail' when she was around others and almost never used his actual name, until now anyway, to which she sat on the couch that came with the office, "Judy, I'm sure you've heard the news that both the Contessa and Constable Neyla were actually secret members of the Klaww Gang, the same ones that broke into the Cairo Museum and made off with the Clockwerk parts, and were recently arrested for the crimes they committed in the last few weeks. Secretary Sen had us under orders to work with the Cooper Gang and recover the Clockwerk parts, or destroy the ancient bird if he was resurrected, and both the Contessa and Neyla disobeyed that order by capturing Sly, Murray, and myself when we were taking out Rajan. Neyla set everything up to make Barkley think that I've been a corrupt cop since the day Sly and I first met each other, back when someone tried to steal the Diva Diamond, giving him a packet containing lies about all the cases I've been on since that day... and Barkley bought all of it. Back in Prague, when the Contessa was first exposed, Neyla got all the credit for her capture, was promoted to the rank of Captain by Barkley himself, and I was officially wanted for crimes that I never committed."
"Wow... that's, well, harsh and unfair," Judy said, though at the same time she had to admire Carmelita's bravery, as she was willing to come back were, where Director Barkley worked, despite the fact that he had been trying to arrest her near the end of the Klaww Gang's life, "How did you convince him that your innocent?"
"Well, Sly and I gathered information on Neyla's true plans and told Secretary Sen everything." Carmelita explained, as there wasn't much to the tale, other than the fact that their superior had believed all the evidence that they had acquired and that was enough to make him side with her and the Cooper Gang, "In the end he believed us over what Barkley was saying and, once we finished off Clockwerk, Secretary Sen pardoned me and cleared my name... and, at the same time, it's left a sour taste in the mouths of our co-workers. You see, one of the things that Neyla did was record herself asking our co-workers questions about whether or not they believed that I was innocent, and all of them, save for you and a few others that had been out on missions, believe that I'm a corrupt cop that needs to be punished."
Judy opened her mouth, to say something about how horrible that was, but before she could actually say anything the intercom that Director Barkley used, when he wanted to call someone to his office, turned on and, as luck would have it, he was calling for Carmelita to come to his office... to which she sighed as she walked to his office, ignored the smug looks that some of her co-workers were giving her, before she entered her destination and closed the door behind her.
"You wanted to see me, Director Barkley?" Carmelita asked, though she did her best to hide her fear, because she had seen how angry the man had been when he was in Prague, when he was ordering Neyla to capture her and the Cooper Gang despite Secretary Sen's orders, and knew that something was going to happen.
"Yes, I did." Barkley replied, to which he closed the file that he had been staring at and turned to face her, where Carmelita saw that he was smoking one of his cigars again, "Do you have any idea what your actions have caused us recently? Fortunately most of the criminals you caught before the Fiendish Five have turned over a new leaf and are living new lives, though right now Muggshot is walking out of prison to become an ACES pilot, Mz. Ruby has been released under the orders of Secretary Sen, for what purpose I don't care about, and the Panda King is being let out to become a monk or something. Dimitri, from what I hear, is being let out early and might become a dance instructor for a cruise ship, Rajan has an interest in moving to North America to become a carpet salesman, while the Contessa, Arpeggio, and Neyla are being sentenced to life sentences with only Arpeggio having any hope of his being reduced, depending on whatever deal he makes with one of the Secretaries."
"Director, I fail to see how any of that is my fault," Carmelita said, though she was pleased to hear that the majority of the criminals that she had caught, whether or not it was because she was following the Cooper Gang, were returning to society as improved individuals, even though the Klaww Gang members shouldn't be leaving anyway, "Secretary Sen approved of me doing whatever I felt was necessary to stop the possible resurrection of Clockwerk and, if that failed, make sure we take him out before he becomes a menace to someone else. We stopped that ancient evil from coming back to life and put the Klaww Gang behind bars, while also stopping their shipments of illegal spice..."
"And got a Secretary to clear your corrupted name at the same time," Barkley stated, stopping Carmelita in her tracks, though she had been hoping that it wouldn't come to this, as she was trying to avoid letting him bring up anything that was related to her 'corruption'.
"Everything that Neyla and the Contessa told you were lies." Carmelita replied, not caring if she was interrupting the director, because at the rate his anger was rising, and she could see it, he was going to blow a fuse and fire someone, most likely her if she was unfortunate enough to be around him when it reached that level, "Up until two years ago, back when both Gilda and Derpy Cooper gained their magical abilities, I had been chasing them, Sly, Bentley, and Murray since the incident with the Diva Diamond, fully intending to arrest them and never once assisted them. When Secretary Sen learned of the sisters gaining magical powers, which they used to defeat Clockwerk, he arranged to meet with them and a deal was struck between Interpol and the Cooper Gang, with me being the one that was their handler so we'd know where to go and who we were going to arrest. Sure, I became a thief for a few hours during this operation, but it was in our best interests so we could get our hands on the Clockwerk parts... not that it mattered since Neyla attacked the convoy that Secretary Sen had sent for the parts we had collected, snatched the remaining ones from Jean Bison, and aided Arpeggio in resurrecting Clockwerk. I'm completely innocent of the crimes that Neyla has accused me of and even Secre..."
"It doesn't matter what Secretary Sen thinks of the situation, because I made my decision when Neyla arrested the Contessa nearly three weeks ago," Barkley said, once more interrupting Carmelita while she was talking, something that she was used to, but his tone made her pause for a moment, giving him time to open the file he had been looking at, one that she now noticed had her name on it, and moved a piece of paper towards her, "I'm sorry Carmelita, I truly am, but you brought this upon yourself."
Just the way he spoke and how he acted, both things she had come to understand from observing him over the years, Carmelita could tell exactly what was on the sheet of paper without even looking at it, as it was the one thing that she had been hoping would never happen... and yet, when she glanced down at the paper, tears formed in her eyes as she looked at the orders that Barkley had created, issuing her dismissal as a cop.
"No... please let this be a joke..." Carmelita said, her voice weak as she looked at the paper, as she could already visualize her world collapsing around her, especially when she told her parents about what happened, whenever she got around to actually telling them her undeserved fate.
"By the time Secretary Sen issued the order that your name be cleared it was too late to change my mind," Barkley replied, though his tone revealed that he didn't seem to care, as if all those years that he had been teaching her to be his replacement meant nothing to him now, besides utter disappointment anyway, "all he did was clear the name of a fired officer. Carmelita Montoya Fox, it is with a heavy heart that I ask that you return your shock pistol, hand in your Inspector badge, clear out your office, and vacate the building."
Carmelita stood there for a few seconds, her mind struggling to accept the fact that this was actually happening and that she had lost her dream job because her boss was stupid enough to believe the lies that had been spread from some people who infiltrated Interpol, instead of believing the word of an honest cop that had never lied to him, not even once in the time she knew him. And yet, despite the fact that Secretary Sen had cleared her name, her life as a cop was crumbling before her very eyes, though even as her anger flared, at the wrongness of this entire situation, she knew that if she tried anything Barkley would order her former co-workers to restrain her and she'd end up in jail until Secretary Sen found out about what was going on. She let out a sad sigh as she moved her hands and undid the holster that was attached to her belt, with the shock pistol still loaded inside it, before dropping it on Barkley's desk, earning a growl from him that she didn't even care about anymore, which was followed by her fingering the badge that was attached to the collar that she wore around her neck, a badge that she had taken great pride in achieving through hard work... and it was with a saddened heart, and accompanied by a stream of tears, that she unhooked the badge that she had proudly worn since she got it, before gently placing it on the desk in front of her.
Once the badge was on the desk, and one copy of the dismissal paper was in her hand, Carmelita said nothing as she pulled open the door to Barkley's office and walked out into the open area that her former co-workers were watching her with some large smiles on their faces... though when she returned to her former office, and couldn't bring herself to say much to a shocked Judy, other than 'thanks for being a good friend', and simply disassembled the map she had of the Cooper Gang's heists, as whoever replaced her would have to do all the hard work themselves. The moment she had all the information she had collected on the gang, from the moment she had met Sly during the Diva Diamond theft up to the first members of the Klaww Gang, in one container she sealed the box and carried it outside the office, where she began the walk back to the front of the building. It didn't take her long to get outside, especially when she didn't want to stick around her former co-workers in case they tried anything, though once she was outside she attached the box to the holder that was on the back of her motorcycle, making sure that it was secure, before she drove away from the building and headed off into the city... where she headed towards the gang's hideout, as she had some news to share with them when she arrived.
It didn't take her long to reach the Cooper Gang's hideout, where they lived and trained in the arts of the Cooper Clan, though she parked her motorcycle in a place where it wouldn't be found easily, before she used her key that she had been given to open the door... though a few moments later she walked up to the area that the gang was relaxing in, where they instantly stopped what they were doing when they noticed that she was there.
"Carmelita, what's wrong?" Sly asked, as the moment he noticed that she had entered the building he had turned to welcome her back, but when he noticed the tear marks on her face he knew something was wrong, which was why he was the first one to approach her.
Carmelita did say anything as she looked at Sly for a few seconds, though that was swiftly followed by her dropping the box she had been carrying and rushed forward, where she buried herself in Sly's arms, as he was the comfort that she was seeking at the moment, and she let the tears flow once more.
"Sly, you should see this." Bentley spoke up, where he picked up the lone piece of paper that had caught his attention, though as he showed Sly he noticed that the others were gathering around them and were trying to comfort Carmelita as well, even though they knew who she wanted to be with at the moment.
"She was fired?!" Sly exclaimed, to which a wave of shock and anger rolled throughout the entire gang, while at the same time he heard a screech of anger from another room, where he wasn't sure if that was because Clockwerk was angry about the modification that he and Bentley had been working on earlier or what he had overheard.
"I'll let Secretary Sen know what happened," Bentley stated, to which he rolled over to where his computer was located and started tapping some buttons, as while he couldn't believe what was going on he knew that Secretary Sen was going to have some choice words for Barkley.
"Sly... my days as a cop are over." Carmelita said, to which she pulled herself back for a moment and stared into the eyes of the person that she loved with all her heart, who she knew shared the same feelings towards her, "I... I guess now's a good time to officially start my training... I'm... I'm ready to truly become a Cooper Thief."
At any other time Sly would have been overjoyed to have Carmelita choose his lifestyle over her own, especially after seeing how skilled she was at using his family's techniques without any formal training, but having her choose his lifestyle because someone was forcing her to make the decision pissed him off to no end... though while he comforted Carmelita, and the others gave them space, he spotted Bentley sending a message and hoped there was something Secretary Sen could do for Carmelita.
Secretary Sen was generally a happy man, as Interpol ran exactly like he and the other four Secretaries envisioned that it would, but recently he was disappointed in the performance of several officers that Director Barkley had hired and their clear mistreatment of Carmelita Fox. She was one of the greatest law enforcement officers that he had the honor of meeting and working with over the years, so much so that he often wondered if she had the potential to replace one of the other Secretaries, as some of them were looking for officers that could replace them when they decided that it was time for them to retire. As a phoenix he could only actually retire from his position if the other four felt that he was no longer a viable fit for the position or when he decided that it was finally time for him to retire and pursue an entirely new career, something that he knew wasn't going to happen for some time, but for now his mind was focused on what he was doing as he walked into the Interpol building that Carmelita had been working at until that morning. His day had been going good until he received that email from Bentley a few minutes ago, where he flew over the entirety of Paris and landed in front of the building that he walked into, as he had a single destination in mind and wouldn't stop until he reached until the person that he needed to have a conversation with.
As he walked into the building he found that the staff were frightened the moment he entered the lobby, because there were a few stories going around about what he did when he was annoyed or pissed off, but he ignored the front desk clerk and headed to the floor that Carmelita's former office was on, where he marched up to the door of Barkley's office and found that the door was still open... though Barkley, who clearly wasn't expecting company at the moment, instantly paled as he entered the room and closed the door behind him, before staring at the Director.
"Director Barkley," Secretary Sen said, keeping his anger in check and not letting it be known that he was upset, as there were so many things he wanted to tell the man, especially after everything that happened since the Clockwerk parts were stolen, and he wanted to see what he had to work with first before he said anything.
"Secretary Sen." Barkley replied, though at the same time he picked up the shock pistol and badge that had been left on his desk and set them in a container, one that he would give to one of the staff later, so they could deal with the used pistol and erase Carmelita's name from the badge so they could give it to someone else in the future, "To what do I owe the pleasure of your company? I was under the assumption that you were supposed to be having an important meeting with the other four Secretaries today."
"You're right, I do have that meeting today," Secretary Sen stated, as there was something important that he and his fellow Secretaries needed to discuss, which was why the meeting had been called in the first place and all of Interpol knew that they would be unavailable for some time while they did that, "however, as I was preparing to leave for the meeting, I received an email from the Cooper Gang, or, more specifically, I received an email from Bentley. It seems that you just did something that could very well end your career in a single instant... you fired Inspector Carmelita Montoya Fox over the lies that both the Contessa and Neyla had told you."
"She was a corrupt cop that got what she deserved," Barkley said, though at the same time Secretary Sen noticed that Barkley didn't seem to care about what was going on at the moment, which annoyed him more than he was willing to admit, especially when he knew that Carmelita actually deserved better than this.
"No, you fired an innocent cop, ruined her reputation, and made it impossible for her to even apply for a law enforcement position in some other agency." Secretary Sen replied, though this time around he frowned as a faint red aura appeared around him, the type he used to intimidate people when he didn't want to release the seals on his real power, which would burn the entire building down in the process if he did that, while at the same time noticing Barkley flinch for a moment, "You effectively made sure that Carmelita could no longer become a cop, despite all the time she spent working her way up to the position she had earned, and have not only angered the Cooper Gang with your actions, but both of her parents and myself at the same time. Director Barkley, as of right now I am officially demoting you back to the rank of Inspector, the lowest ranking Inspector in all of Interpol I might add, and I'll be making some changes to the staff in this building, because you have let things go since the moment you became the Director of this agency."
"You don't have the autho..." Barkley started to say, but when he saw Secretary Sen glare at him, with a look of anger that caused him to shake and fall back into his chair, he knew that anything he said was going to be terrible, as when Secretary Sen was like this it was better to appease him and hope his anger cooled off quickly.
"You should consider yourself lucky that I didn't fire you immediately." Secretary Sen said, though at the same time he pulled out the folder that he had been carrying the entire time, which Barkley had only just now noticed, and placed a piece of paper on the desk, "There will be a new Director in charge of this agency effectively immediately, one that I selected from the potential list of candidates, and you will abide by his orders while he gives me progress reports on everything you do. If I find that you are doing a good enough job I'll back off and let you keep your job, but if I hear that you keep screwing up, and continue to make a fool of Interpol, I will fire you from your new position and make it impossible for you to get a job in law enforcement. There's also someone here I want to talk to, as she's the only person that Carmelita trusts enough to be the new handler for the Cooper Gang, and there's a few officers that I'll talk to before I leave... but remember this, if you do anything foolish, that might tarnish our name further, I will act swift and without any mercy to fulfill my promise."
He barely looked at the terrified Director, now Inspector, as he opened the door and walked out into the area where the other officers were hard at work, or they appeared to be doing that, and made his way to where Carmelita's office had been before she was fired. Judy Hopps was the only person that Carmelita trusted to take over her position as the head hunter of the Cooper Gang, or handler as the position was now known within the ranks, and he wanted to talk with her before he left the building. At the same time there were a few officers that were going to be fired immediately, as he had found problems with several of their applications and still wondered how they had gotten by Barkley and the HR Agent, but he aimed to correct that mistake and fix this agency before heading out to the meeting that he was going to be late for, though he knew that his fellow Secretaries would be fine once he told them why he was late. He also meant his promise to Barkley, as the moment the man screwed up again he was going to utterly ruin his life to the same point that he had put Carmelita in... only Barkley didn't have a second lifestyle that he could fall back to if something like that happened to him.
As he walked down the hallway, and headed towards Carmelita's former office, he knew that the Cooper Gang would have their own plan to get at Barkley, after he told them exactly what he had promised the Inspector... and he'd be able to enact his promise soon enough, he just had to make sure Judy Hopps was ready to take over Carmelita's old position and knew the rules of being the handler of the Cooper Gang.
Sly and the gang spent the next year away from any major heists, as they were still unwinding from their various missions against the Klaww Gang, though during that time Gilda, Derpy, and Diz spent their time training their magic, while at the same time Bentley continued to upgrade his wheelchair from time to time. While that happened Clockwerk spent the majority of his time away from Sly and his sisters, especially after learning that Diz was a new family member and didn't want the headache of having to deal with a chaotic being that couldn't understand his powers, though the one thing he did understand was that there were some times where he used a lot of power and his gender shifted at random. The gang had found a second computer expert in the ancient owl, which made sense considering what he was and what he had done to his body, but despite all that Sly still found that it was hard to trust the owl that had tried to kill him, wounded his sister, and had killed his father... and he also didn't say anything against him, not when Derpy insisted that he was changing because of the changes she had made to the chip that powered him, due to the magic that she and Gilda commanded.
Sly found that the majority of the last year was spent doing one thing and never deviated from what he was doing, though sometimes he stood in the lookout area of the hideout and observed the training area or headed out to specific areas where criminals were active and watched what happened from afar. The reason behind that was because there was someone he was teaching the various techniques of the Cooper Clan to, someone that was able to take to them like they were second nature, causing him to wonder if that was because she had been observing him and his sisters for years or if there was the possibility that one of her ancestors had been in contact with his clan. At the moment he was in the hideout, watching the training area as he observed what was going on, as Carmelita was helping Bentley test his new positioning software while also getting around the obstacles that Sly had put in her way, to make sure she knew the Cooper Techniques that he had been teaching her over the last year. Many of the techniques she had picked up from watching him, Derpy, Gilda, and even Diz out in the field, when she was chasing them, and a few of them she had gotten a small lesson on when they came across something she was unfamiliar with, while there were a number that she hadn't had the opportunity to see and required him to teach her what she didn't know.
Despite the techniques that she had little training in or didn't know, of which there were plenty of both, Carmelita continued to show that the talent Sly had seen during the Klaww Gang Heists, as the gang tended to call them, was very much real and that she was constantly improving... which made him happy, when he considered what he was planning on having them do in the near future and the surprise that he had for her.
She is quite skilled. a voice said, one that Sly had grown used to hearing since Derpy had returned the Harmony Chip, as it was much better than calling it a Hate Chip at this point, to the ancient mechanical owl, who remained in his miniature owl state as he flew into the room and landed on a perch that was near the window, You have done well in teaching her all the techniques from the Thievius Raccoonus. I'm sure your ancestors would be proud of you.
Sure, there were times where it sounded like Clockwerk was mocking his skills or something he was doing, it had happened a few times during the first month he had been spent with the gang and he directed his comments to nearly the entire gang, save for Bentley and Carmelita. By this point Sly was sure that the reason the owl didn't do anything to Bentley was because of the fact that it was his body that had been used to cripple his friend, while at the same time the owl did seem to enjoy tinkering with Bentley, who assured Sly that he wasn't building a death ray or something. Carmelita, whose emotions had been toyed with by Neyla, who had gotten almost all of Carmelita's old co-workers to say that she was a corrupt cop and managed to, in the end, have Berkley fire her, was also exempted from the owl's comments. Sly suspected that it was similar to his reasons towards Bentley, as his body had been the main reason behind Carmelita losing her dream job in such a manner... and there were times where he was sure that the ancient owl was trying to sooth things over with her, maybe because he might actually care or because it would help convince him that he had changed.
He still felt that three years with the loving power, and all the other emotions that Derpy had been feeling, weren't enough to suddenly change a few millennia old owl's hatred towards a rival's family clan, but for the most part it didn't seem like Clockwerk had any ulterior motive... though that worried Sly and kept him on his toes at all times.
"She's had time to pick up some of the basics from watching me and my siblings," Sly said, as that was part of the truth, as he still wasn't sure if this was purely because of her innate talent to observe and copy the Cooper Clan's many techniques, or if one of her own ancestors had been a thief at one point and that had stayed in her family, "though we're all thinking the same thing, while she may not be a raccoon she's definitely a Cooper at heart."
When do you plan of doing her trial? Clockwerk inquired, once more revealing his extensive knowledge on the Cooper Clan and what they did when they were training the next generation, which also worried Sly since he was willing to share what he knew and didn't trust parts of what he said, though the part about the trial was what he was focused on.
"Soon... I just haven't found the perfect target for her to steal from." Sly replied, as a trial usually involved a Cooper Thief stealing something from a location without being caught, generally by the target they were robbing, and at the moment he didn't have any wealthy people that wanted a professional thief to sneak through their defenses and test them, as that was how he, Derpy, Gilda, and Diz had done it, which left him searching for anything he could use.
"I might be able to help with that." a new voice said, to which both Sly and Clockwerk turned towards the door and found Bentley moving towards them, though in his hand he held a newspaper that was already open to a specific section that he must have been reading earlier, where they discovered a picture of Barkley off to the side, "Before you had Carmelita start the final part of her training I showed her this news article and she told me a few things about how law enforcement tries to trick thieves into not attacking certain shipments. The article's headline says that the world's most expensive bar of Bavarian Chocolate is to be shipped to the Munich Museum, with Inspector Barkley being the head of security, but that is where things get interesting, as both Carmelita and Secretary Sen had some interesting things to say about this article. Interpol wasn't hired to escort the bar of chocolate to a museum, and Secretary Sen even checked with his fellow Secretaries to be sure they aren't doing anything, and we've come to the conclusion that Barkley is acting on his own at the moment... to try and ensnare the gang in robbing innocent people, to somehow break the deal that we have with his superior."
He's a broken man trying to raise himself back up to what he had been before my parts were taken and before he was punished for his own actions. Clockwerk commented, as they all knew why Barkley had been punished in such a manner, a fact that Sly was reminded of whenever he looked at Carmelita, before the owl focused on some of the words that there on the article, What did Carmelita have to say about this?
"That 'Bavarian Chocolate' was actually code for some precious gemstones and several other expensive items that stack up to a small fortune," Bentley said, revealing that this was either evidence that Barkley was escorting to a safe location, or he was purposely using another criminal's loot to lure in the Cooper Gang, "and, according to Secretary Sen, nothing has been removed from the evidence area, and he's checked with several of the guards to be absolutely sure that they were telling the truth. Inspector Barkley appears to be acting as the head of security for a criminal or a small group of criminals... which means that it's loot that we would normally take anyway."
Sly was a little surprised by what he was hearing, though at the same time he smiled for a moment, as the perfect way to test Carmelita's skills had revealed itself to him, because it appeared that Bentley had been thinking about hitting the train that Barkley was on anyway, and all he had to do was tell her what was going on in the near future.
Carmelita, upon hearing that it was time for her to prove that she was worthy of being a Cooper Thief, which meant that she had to go through the same type of test that the others had taken on after their training, did a number of things as they made their way to the train station that Barkley's train would be passing through. Since she was in charge of the operation, with Sly, Derpy, Gilda, and Diz being able to help her only once, she thought about what needed to be done and quickly came up with a plan of attack, especially now that she knew what they were trying to steal anyway. She had Derpy scout out the train as it stopped at another station that was far away from where the one she wanted to use was located, giving her, Bentley, and Clockwerk some time to study the train and allow her to make a good plan that they could execute when Barkley's train arrived. From what she could tell the last three train cars were where Barkley would place the goods, with a locked door that only had a single lock on it and a computer inside the first one, no doubt for security reasons for all three cars. When she was done studying those pictures she took a brief look at the Thievius Raccoonus once more, more specifically the chapter on disguises by Thaddeus Winslow Cooper, and several more ideas sprung to life in her mind, all of which she was sure would make Sly proud.
Since she needed to be the one to steal the key, and the loot that it went to, she needed a disguise that would fool Barkley into thinking she was someone else, which was when she came up with the idea for her and Sly to be some eager tourists that would walk by Barkley, where she could swipe the key while he wasn't looking and then she could go claim the loot with Sly watching her back. Bentley and Diz would also disguise themselves as tourists and knock out any guards that were near the last three train cars, giving her and Sly time to grab the key, before she let Bentley inside to disable the security that would be waiting for them further down the line. Gilda and Clockwerk would be watching the skies during the heist, in case Barkley had a helicopter or something in the area, so they could know when a change of plans was needed, but she was sure that they would be just fine. Sly, who was spending the majority of the time letting Carmelita take charge of the operation, since it was hers so she could prove herself, found that she was as talented as he thought she was and listened to what the others had to say, so she could shape her plan accordingly.
Sometime later, when all of them made sure they knew what parts they needed to play, the train they had been waiting for rolled into position and the gorilla mercenaries that Barkley was in charge of piled out and stood their ground for a few moments, which was when Barkley made his arrival, wearing what appeared to be the attire of a military officer for some odd reason, before he was welcomed aboard the train after showing the head guard his credentials. Fortunately there was a bathroom that none of the gorilla mercenaries were looking at, one that allowed Diz and Bentley to change into their Irish attire and gave Sly the chance to change into his American tourist disguise, while at the same time Carmelita emerged from the women's restroom looking completely different, as she knew that Barkley might recognize her and had taken steps to hide her identity for as long as she could. From there it was a simple matter for the two groups to enter the train, with Bentley and Diz close to the back while Carmelita and Sly moved into the train car that was ahead of Barkley's, though at the same time the others moved into position and waited for the train to move before following after it.
Sly and Carmelita sat near the door of the back of their car, observing a clearly nervous Barkley as he adjusted his attire and revealed the silver key that they were after, which he looked at for a few seconds before setting it down to his right as he thought about what he was doing. It was in the moment that he was distracted that the duo made their move, though as they walked down towards the other side of the train car it appeared that Carmelita was right, without a Cooper Mask over her face, any visible collars around her neck, clothing that revealed nothing about her body, and her hair done up in a manner that she never used until this point, Barkley didn't even pay attention to them. The only time he looked at them was when Sly asked if Barkley could get a picture of him and Carmelita, using actual cameras inside of a binocucom since they were part of the disguise, and Barkley only growled in annoyance as he 'assisted' them in taking their picture, though while he was setting up the camera, to spite the 'tourists' for annoying him, Carmelita removed the key without him noticing it... though once the picture was taken the two of them thanked Barkley and were on their way, and he had no idea the key was missing from where he left it.
Despite the fact that Carmelita couldn't believe how unobservant Barkley was, which made him a fool for even trying this in the first place, she and Sly arrived in time to see Diz and Bentley take care of the guard that was right outside the train car that the loot was in. With the mercenary knocked out, and placed against the wall of the train car they had just come from, Carmelita used the key and unlocked the door, where she let Bentley in and he hacked into the systems within seconds, disabling the lasers and allowing them to move forward. The first train car, as Carmelita discovered, mostly held some expensive looking statues, from all over the world if she was seeing things correctly, and the second train car held a number of large containers that had bars of gold, silver, and a significant number of jewelry pieces, some of which she recognized as having been stolen from a museum somewhere down the tracks a few days before Barkley's article appeared in the newspaper. The final train car held the crown jewel of the collection, as it was resting in a square case that had no lock on it, proving how foolish Barkley was for thinking this was enough to stop a Cooper Thief, though the item itself was an actual golden crown with some expensive chocolate brown diamonds set in the metal.
Once she surveyed the loot, and knew what they were looking at, Carmelita had Bentley find the command in the computer that would separate the three train cars carrying all the loot from the rest of the train, though when he found it she had him wait until they entered the tunnel... to which they used the cover of darkness to separate from the main train and let it, and Barkley, ride off into the distance without the stolen goods. Sly, feeling that this operation would have been a success, had a plan to get them on their way home, as Clockwerk flew outside and expanded into his true menacing form, before latching onto the top of the train car that they piled all of the loot into and carried them all the way back to Paris, another benefit of his immortal and untiring body. Sly knew the ancient owl would have preferred not to help in such a way, since this was supposed to be Carmelita's trial and she could have come up with an exit strategy, but in the end Clockwerk said nothing as he carried the gang back to the train yard that had been the gang's base of operations when they were going after the Fiendish Five. After Clockwerk set them down, and reverted back to his miniature owl form, the gang unloaded the loot into a delivery truck that was waiting nearby, another thing that Sly had set up ahead of time, and they got back to the safe house with all the loot that Barkley had been using to lure them out into the open... and, at the same time, the former Director of Interpol had only made a fool of himself in the process.
"I honestly can't believe we pulled that off without Barkley even recognizing me," Carmelita said, as the moment they got back to their safe house, which had become a home to all of them in one way or another, she and the others shed their disguises and returned to their normal attire, before looking down at the loot they had taken for a few seconds, "For a moment there I thought he was going to recognize us and arrest us before we could even get the key, since we have to be the only raccoon and fox couple in the area. But we made off with the loot and it's only a matter of time until Secretary Sen throws Barkley out of Interpol for good... or maybe he'll arrest him, for helping the criminal that stole all of this in the first place."
"Carmelita, your plan worked to perfection and Barkley won't know the loot is gone until he arrives at the destination he was taking it to," Sly spoke up, though that was when the gang noticed that he was carrying a rectangular box that was as long as his cane, even if it was slightly shorter, which caused all of them to quiet down as they observed what was going to happen, "Normally it takes someone years to master the techniques of the Cooper Clan, but the time you spent chasing after us, observing our every move, and even taking part in some of our heists, all of it proves one thing, and this heist only confirms it even more. Carmelita, you are, without a doubt, a Cooper Thief... and no thief of the Cooper Clan is complete without a cane to call their own."
Carmelita was happy that Sly was pleased with her process, and had completed her trial, but hearing that he had such a surprise for her was a shock that she wasn't expecting, though it did make her look at the canes that he and the others were carrying. Sly's cane was the same one that his father carried before him, which was a wooden handle with the initial of the Cooper Clan, no doubt created from solid gold, at the very top of it, and it was that same 'C' shaped design that rested at the top of Gilda, Derpy, and Diz's canes. The only difference was that, shortly after she was fired from Interpol, all three of the magic users had, as part of their lessons, embedded a small part of their power into their canes, causing the handles to change and set them apart from the one that Sly carried. Gilda's cane, for instance, now bared a handle that seemed to resemble flowing wind, while Derpy's possessed a lightning pattern on the handle and one the head of the cane itself, and Diz's handle had, somehow, changed to the point where it looked like it was made of two different pieces of wood, despite it being a single piece, and there was a tooth chained to the area between the handle and the head... which was something that Diz was surprised to see when he did this and Mz. Ruby didn't have an answer, so all he could do was accept it and roll with it.
Once she was done remembering what the other four canes looked like she gently removed the lid from the box and stared down at the cane that rested before her, as it appeared to be modeled after the one that Sly carried, and at first she thought that the only difference was the pure silver head that contained the familiar 'C' shape... though that was before her eyes were drawn to the end of the handle, to the part that might touch the ground, and found that the end of the handle had been shaped into a fox's tail, with the Cooper Clan and Interpol emblems etched into both sides of it.
"Sly... it's beautiful," Carmelita said, to which she gently pulled the cane out of the box and held it up, though she was happy to see the reminder of her past etched into the weapon of her future, as it actually represented her more than she was willing to admit, and this time the reminder of her losing her position at Interpol didn't hurt.
"I'm glad you like it, though that's not the only surprise that's in the box." Sly replied, as he had noticed that, without anything to put on the collar she used to wear all the time, Carmelita had stopped wearing her collar the day after she lost her dream job, which was why this next piece was important as well, to truly complete her.
Carmelita glanced into the box once more and found what, at first glance, appeared to be a Cooper Gang calling card, despite it looking about the size of her old Inspector's badge, but as she touched it she found that it was metallic like her old badge and, when she lifted it out of the box, she found that it could be attached to her old collar. That was before she noticed that the name engraved on one side of it was her name, though instead of it reading 'Carmelita Montoya Fox' it actually read 'Carmelita Montoya Cooper', to which she looked up at Sly for a moment before wrapping her arms around him and kissed him.
"Sly... words cannot express my gratitude towards you and the rest of the gang," Carmelita said, though at the same time, as she felt tears starting to flow once more, Sly brushed them away and pulled out the old collar that Carmelita had worn for the longest time, where she smiled as he slipped it around her neck and connected the symbol of her new life to it without delay, "but thanks for giving me a place where I could belong. I'm honored to be a member of the infamous Cooper Gang, at long last, and... and I'm honored to take your last name as well."
"Carmelita, we're all honored to have you as part of the gang and as part of the family," Sly replied, though at the same time he embraced Carmelita as the rest of the gang nodded their heads, even Clockwerk, who was only part of the group because of Secretary Sen's threats, did so as well, "Though there is one more thing we need to do."
"And what's that?" Carmelita asked, though right now she was eager for some rest, because despite how easy that heist had been she was still slightly tired from all the training she had done before it was time for her to take on her trial, which she was pleased to have passed with flying colors.
"We need to tell your parents about us," Sly said, knowing that the last thing Carmelita wanted was to confront her parents about losing her dream join and joining a gang that was on the opposite side of the law, but he was surprised when she nodded her head and said nothing about that.
Sly and the others relaxed as a small party of sorts was thrown to celebrate Carmelita's achievement, though at the same time both of them knew that their next venture wasn't going to be that easy, as talking with Carmelita's parents might be one of the hardest things they ever had to do... and yet all they could do was wait and see what happened when they decided to tell them the news that Carmelita had to tell them.
Carmelita thought it would have been hard to contact both of her parents, especially since both of them had to be busy with their own jobs and whatever duties that they had to perform recently, but what surprised her was when she made the first call she managed to reach her mother, Margret Fox, quite easily. Her mother was happy to hear from her again, as she had spent the last year focused solely on her training with Sly, and actually set in motion the time and place of where they could get together and share the news with each other. Carmelita knew that having her mother do that meant that she didn't have to call her father, Edward Fox, and talk to him just yet, because she knew that her father had likely heard the news that she had been fired from Interpol and would have a hundred questions to ask her, not to mention that he would be very disappointed in what happened to her, and that wasn't even taking her mother into consideration. The only thing that she wasn't expecting was for her mother to call her back an hour later and inform her that she, Sly, and the rest of the gang were being invited over to her grandfather's place to talk and have a meal together, much less the fact that it was in the next couple of days.
Sly felt that having the majority of the gang being called to one location, even if it was to meet Carmelita's side of the family, was weird and unusual, something that Carmelita agreed with since she had tried to only get herself and Sly to meet her parents, but, as it turned out, they knew something about her situation and were eager to meet them... but whether or not her parents knew that she was dating a criminal, and had become one herself while hanging out with the gang, Carmelita honestly didn't know.
Fortunately both she and Sly still had their dresses from when they went to Rajan's ball, which was more than enough for what they were going to, and they were able to find someone that could outfit Derpy, Gilda, Diz, and Bentley before the day of the dinner. The only member of the gang, and that was a term that still didn't quite fit with the being in question, that didn't have to actually wear anything was Clockwerk, who was sticking to his miniature form since he was sure that Carmelita's family would want to get at him if they realized who he was, but, at the same time, he refused to go without anything. What he came up with was a monocle, scaled to his body, a small top hat, and a bow tie, all of which he could have ignored, and he understood that, but at the same time he wanted to make sure that he made a good first impression and didn't annoy anyone by coming under dressed, even if he was a robot. The only thing that actually confused the gang was the part of the message that said they could bring their canes if they so desired, though out of habit Sly and his siblings decided to bring them along, in case something happened, and Carmelita only went along with it because she had the feeling that her parents knew more than she had told them.
After getting all of their appropriate clothing together, simple dresses and suits by the looks of it, the gang spent the remaining time relaxing, as they were sure that they would be busy with other things once they met Carmelita's family, before time was up and they had to leave... only for Sly and the others to find out that Carmelita's grandfather lived in a decent sized building outside Paris, three stories tall and had more than enough room for all of them.
When they arrived outside the house in question, using a limo that Carmelita's grandfather had sent to pick them up from a very specific destination so no one could see them, Sly was the first to emerge from the car and held out a hand as he helped Carmelita out of the back seat. All of them were dressed up and ready to go, with five of them carrying their canes while Clockwerk remained perched on the back part of Bentley's wheelchair, before they approached the front door and were welcomed inside, where Sly, his siblings, and Bentley stared at the area around them and found a few statues, pieces of art, and several items that seemed to be important to the Foxes in one form or another. Carmelita remembered many of these items from when she was younger, running around the place as she played cops and robbers, and smiled as she took in the familiar sights that she hadn't seen for years, mostly because her job at Interpol, chasing Sly, had kept her busy over the years. Thanks to all the training she went through, to become an Inspector at Interpol and to become a Cooper Thief, she now saw several of the items in a new light, as she knew that some of them could be pricey, but she'd never steal from her family... and she also knew that Sly wouldn't allow it either, as she knew that he and his siblings were looking at several of the pieces as well and were restraining themselves to the best of their abilities.
"Carmelita!" a voice happily said, to which Carmelita turned around and found her mother standing at the opening between the entrance hall and the room that was to the left of the entrance, a waiting area since the one to the right was where they'd be eating later, "It's so nice to see you again."
Sly found that Margret Fox definitely looked like an older version of Carmelita, something that Carmelita likely knew about, and discovered that she was wearing a fine red dress that seemed to fit her quite well, though as he prepared to say something he noticed another figure approach them. The newcomer was definitely male and was wearing what appeared to be a police uniform of some kind, though when Sly looked closer he found that Edward Fox, as that was who the person was, happened to be working for Interpol as well, or at the very least some section of Interpol. Just like both Carmelita and Margret, Edward Fox also had the same brownish-orange colored fur, though both he and Marget had slight signs of silver at the tips, showing their age, yet neither of them seemed to care much about the silver and were focused on what was happening at the moment.
"Mom! Dad!" Carmelita said, where she ran forward and embraced her parents, because regardless of what happened to her she knew that neither one of them would banish her from the family, and honestly she wasn't sure she could emotionally survive such a thing if it happened, even with Sly's support, before she pulled away from them, "Sorry I haven't called either of you lately... my life's been pretty chaotic since the heist the Klaww Gang pulled at the Cairo Museum a little over a year ago."
"We heard what happened." Edward stated, causing Carmelita to pause for a moment, as this was what she was afraid of, though at the same time she was happy to see that her father hadn't changed, as while his tone was firm it was also comforting, just like she remembered, before he glanced to the side and looked at the Cooper Gang, "Sly Cooper, allow me to offer my condolences for your loss. Conner was a good friend of mine, just as I was a good friend of his, and it pained me to hear that your house was broken into and that you ended up in that orphanage."
"Th... Thank you." Sly said, though he was surprised to hear that Carmelita's father knew his father, which told him that both families likely knew each other and the relationship likely went back several generations at the very least, which only made him wonder about his family line even more, before he focused on what Carmelita's father had said, "Wait, when you say that you've heard what happened, do you mean..."
"Yes, we learned, from our friend Secretary Sen, that Inspector Barkley fired Carmelita because he felt that she was a corrupt cop, when we both knew that it wasn't true." Margret replied, though at the same time she shook her head for a moment, as if shaking off her annoyance or something, but Sly and the rest of the gang were sure that she had cried a little when that news came to them, "For the first month or two I thought that the reason we weren't being contacted was because Carmelita was either still busy working a case, or she simply withdrew from the world until she was ready to talk to someone. Imagine my surprise when we later discovered that Edward was right, that you joined the Cooper Gang and helped them pull off a heist that exposed Barkley as the true corrupt cop."
"It turns out that, shortly after my father left the force, Barkley's standards seemed to go down while he trained his underlings in a very specific manner," Edward said, though this was all news to the gang, as Secretary Sen hadn't said anything about Barkley since they took all the loot that he was transporting to whatever his destination had been, though Sly was beginning to think that he hadn't told them because he knew that the Foxes would tell them eventually, "Some of the officers that you worked with were corrupt cops from the start, such as Neyla for instance, and some were corrupted along the way, just like the Contessa, though it appears that he also trained some of you to eventually catch your fellow officers in an act of breaking the law... though we're not sure what his motives were, not that it matters since he's going to be punished for his latest actions."
"You mean him attempting to traffic stolen goods into the city his employer worked in?" Carmelita inquired, as now that they had more information it made sense as to why Barkley was trying to get rid of her, once Neyla started to frame her as a 'corrupt cop', as he was afraid that she might find out the truth and bring most of the building down, though from the sounds of it that's what Secretary Sen was doing, "You know, that was actually my trial, stealing all that loot before Barkley even realized that I had done it, and I pulled off my plan with flying colors... and, from the sounds of it, it seems that Barkley is getting what he deserves. Though, if I'm being honest, I'm surprised that the both of you are so willing to accept the fact that I'm dating a criminal and that I've become one."
"It's like I said, Conner was a good friend of ours and we understood that there were good criminals in the world, with the Cooper Clan being one of them," Edward replied, though at the same time he sighed for a moment, no doubt thinking about the past and the time he had spent with Sly's father, before looking at the group once more, "It's not public knowledge, but both Margret and I actually helped Conner a few times over the years, and while we saw the appeal of his lifestyle we both agreed to stay on this side of the law, because without good cops no amount of good criminals could keep the civilians safe. If we were willing to accept the fact that one of our best friends was a criminal, one of the good ones, we should be willing to accept that our daughter had to change professions and become one herself... all because Barkley was an idiot and decided to believe someone that was lying to him."
"That he is." a new voice stated, one that Carmelita also recognized, which was when she and the Cooper Gang turned towards the top of the staircase that was nearby, where Carmelita found an older fox, wearing the attire of a respected Interpol agent that was literally a level below a Secretary, standing at the top step, though as he walked down towards them he smiled, "I told Secretary Sen a year ago that he should have just fired Barkley for his crimes against you, as well as our family, and then put him in prison for allowing such a dangerous agent to further damage the name of Interpol, but, like always, Sen had a plan and it was executed flawlessly. Not only that, but it seems that the person he brought in to clean up the building you used to work in has done his job quite well, though I expected that from Jim Gordon."
"Wait, Jim Gordon? As in the 'Hawk of Gotham City'?" Sly asked, because that was another name in law enforcement that was designed to inspire fear in criminals of all types in the city that he watched over, as there was a very specific ally of his that helped him clean up the streets and he was quite intimidating on his own, "That Jim Gordon?"
"That's correct." the older fox replied, though that was when a smile appeared on his face, showing that he was happy to hear that they knew who he was talking about, before he finally came to a stop at the bottom of the stairs and glanced over at Carmelita for a moment, "Carmelita, my beloved granddaughter, why don't you introduce me to the infamous Cooper Gang."
"Ah you wish, grandfather." Carmelita said, to which she turned towards the rest of the gang, her gang she mentally told herself, and smiled at them, as they were surprised by who was walking down towards them, "Allow me to introduce Sly, Gilda, Derpy, and Diz Cooper, all Cooper Thieves, as well as Bentley, the brains of the gang, and Cogs, his robotic owl companion. Guys, allow me to introduce my grandfather, Haytham James Fox, former candidate as a new Secretary and current head of the more secretive parts of Interpol."
Sly's eyes widened for a moment, as Carmelita's grandfather was someone who could have become a Secretary at one point in time and had been beaten by someone that was more worthy than he was, since the number had to be five Secretaries at any given time, and knew that he was one of the most influential people he was ever going to meet. The fact that he was in charge of the shadowy and unknown sector of Interpol, a rumored section that Bentley often thought about from time to time, meant that he likely knew more about the world than any of them, save for Clockwerk, did, and that he wasn't someone that they wanted to mess with. That made him wonder what sort of traps and challenges he and the gang would find in a building like this, since it was clear that he had a number of treasures that other thieves would come looking for if they knew he had them, but at the same time he pushed his thoughts away from stealing and focused on what was happening at the moment. He had known that the Foxes were tied to Interpol and law enforcement, as that was exactly what Carmelita was doing, and it amazed him that he was meeting powerful individuals like Secretary Sen and Haytham Fox, people he had only heard stories about... though when the man stepped down to where they were standing Sly was the first one to offer his hand, which Haytham Fox started to shake immediately.
He did the same thing for the rest of the gang, pausing to eye the miniature form that Clockwerk was in, before walking over to where Carmelita's parents were standing, where he smiled at all of them, causing them to relax as they waited for him to talk.
"Sen told me that you were being taken care of by the Cooper Gang, and I can see that he was correct," Haytham said, to which he surprised the gang by knowing more than they thought he did, though there was one thing in particular that he was interested in, besides his granddaughter anyway, "I hear that you passed your trial to become a Cooper Thief, Carmelita, and I am familiar with their customs when such a thing happens. Might we see your new cane?"
For a moment Carmelita was surprised that her family knew about the Cooper trials and that, when one succeeded, they were given a cane to celebrate their success, even though in the beginning she knew that the first Coopers crafted their own canes when they were ready, but when she got over her shock she nodded and held out her cane, which she had been holding onto the entire time since they arrived.
"This is such a beautiful cane," Margret said, staring at how polished parts of it were, the silver piece on top that went with all the canes that the Coopers carried, as history made several mentions of them, and how it all flowed into an easily recognizable fox's tail, complete with the two emblems that were important to her daughter, "Who crafted such a beautiful work of art?"
"Actually, I did," Sly spoke up, to which Carmelita looked over at him in surprise, as she was shocked that he had put time into making the cane, as she figured that there was some family friend that she didn't know about that knew how to make there sort of weapons, "The canes that Derpy, Gilda, and Diz carry started out as near perfect copies of my cane, the same one that my father carried, and they only recently modified their canes to fit themselves, but when Carmelita said that she wanted to join the gang, after being fired, I knew what I had to do. I spent the last year carefully working on that cane, in secret so no one else would find out about it before Carmelita did, and I learned everything I needed to learn so I could make something that rivals the others. I wanted her to have something personal, something that bridged her two worlds together, and I simply went with the flow as I molded this cane... and I felt that Carmelita deserved something special, not something that was created by a friend of the family."
"All that's missing is a ring." Edward stated, though that was when the Foxes started laughing, as Sly couldn't believe that one of them had brought up something like that, but as he thought about it he discovered that Edward was smiling as he handed back Carmelita's cane, happy that she had a place to call home after losing Interpol, and he suspected that Edward knew he was doing everything in his power to make Carmelita happy.
As the group headed into the dining room of the building, where Carmelita's parents asked her how she was doing now that she was on the other side of the law, opposite of what she had been earlier, all Sly could wonder at the moment, besides eventually marrying Carmelita one day, was what sort of fate Barkley had brought upon himself... and he knew that, regardless of the punishment, that the man deserved whatever he got.
Barkley knew, from the moment that he received the summons, that he was in deep water, because when someone got a letter, signed by all five Secretaries that governed Interpol, it meant that something serious was happening or the person that received the letter was in serious trouble. If he were to run, without attending the summons, the Secretaries would immediately blacklist his name, preventing him from working in law enforcement again, seize whatever assets that he didn't withdraw, depriving him of his funds, and make sure the other cops were on the lookout for him. He had already annoyed Secretary Sen by firing Carmelita Fox, who he still believed deserved what he had given her, and there was no telling how annoyed the other four were, as he hadn't had the chance to meet them, not that he wanted to, and quickly came to a decision on what he needed to do. Since he knew that his life was about to change, regardless of which route he took, he decided to appear before the five Secretaries and prayed that this was about something else that wasn't about him and the Cooper Gang, as he didn't want to hear about them anymore. It still hurt that Judy Hopps, Carmelita's best friend before she was fired, was immediately raised to the highest ranking Inspector, under Jim Gordon, the hawk that was the new Director of Interpol, and that she was in contact with them, as per the 'arrangement' that Secretary Sen had with the gang.
As he finished that thought he looked up at the building that was in front of him and sighed, as he had reached the location that the Secretaries wanted him to come to, though as he walked into the lobby area the desk clerk had him sign in and take a seat before did anything else. A few minutes later he found himself being called into a room that had a crescent shaped table some distance from the entrance, though as he walked inside the door closed behind him, where the lights came on and he found all five of the Secretaries sitting before him.
Secretary Sen sat in the middle of the group, looking like he was ready to say something important, though at the same time Barkley knew that he was looking for an excuse to fire him, and the folder that was in front of him didn't quell his fear. Sitting to his immediate left was a female cat, which species Barkley had no idea, whose fur was light black colored, with golden yellow markings that had to be Egyptian in origin, and happened to have green colored eyes, though he knew her as Secretary Bast, but because she usually dressed in Egyptian clothing, which he could see under her Secretary attire, some people confused her with the goddess Bastet, which Barkley knew couldn't exist in this world. To her left sat the third member of the five Secretaries, a green scaled snake with the upper body of a female and the lower body of an actual snake, who was wearing a specially made set of attire for her thanks to her unique body, though Barkley identified her as Secretary Kaji. To Secretary Sen's immediate right sat a white feathered owl that seemed to be like Arpeggio, in the sense that his arms and wings were one in the same, but while he was slightly shorter than the rest of the Secretaries he still carried the same power that they did, though he was Secretary Jaxie. Last, and certainly not least, was the man at the left end of the table, where a male jackal, with black fur, sat, though under his attire he was likely wearing some shorts and either no shirt or a gray colored shirt... but, like Secretary Bast before him, he wore some Egyptian inspired tattoos, while at the same time Barkley knew him as Secretary Anu.
These five were the most powerful people in the entirety of Interpol, capable of overturning any decision and changing how the agency ran at a moments notice if they so desired, though he was glad that he had fired Carmelita before they caught wind of what he was doing, otherwise they would have overturned his decision.
"Inspector Barkley, thank you for coming on such short notice," Secretary Kaji said, to which she looked at him like she was going to eat him, one of her scare tactics that worked on pretty much everyone that she used them on, though Barkley was already frightened by the way she said his title, "This is... something... we wanted to discuss with you."
"A... And that would be?" Barkley asked, though at the same time he knew he was doomed, because the way the five of them were looking at him meant that he was in serious trouble, but he hoped that it was just his imagination and that he'd be able to walk out of here without anything happening to him.
"We've learned, from a reliable source, that you knew of the location of the treasures that were stolen from a museum a week or two ago," Secretary Jaxie spoke up, to which some images appeared between where they were sitting and where Barkley was standing, images that showed him standing in front of the treasure in question, helping some goons haul it into the train that it was stolen from, and him making a deal with the person that was supposed to help him bring down the Cooper Gang, only for him to be arrested a day after the treasure went missing, "Not only did you help this man smuggle the treasure out of the city that it was stolen from, but you also used it as an excuse to call in the Cooper Gang, to frame them for the theft and catch them so you could break the deal they have with Secretary Sen."
"Of course, when one deals with the Cooper Gang, things don't always go as planned," Secretary Bast said, speaking like a cat that was toying around with something, or at least that was the vibes that Barkley got from her, even though he was already doomed anyway, "You planned on catching them red handed with the stolen treasure, never aware of the fact that Carmelita likely decoded your message, like the rest of the police officers that remained after Secretary Sen purged your office of the remaining would be traitors, and was on her way to deliver the finishing blow. Of course, as per the usual with the Cooper Gang, we have next to no evidence to suggest that they were the ones behind the train robbery, save for the Cooper calling card, and the missing train car was found some distance away with no treasure inside it. Instead of telling us where the treasure was, and earning some credit to your name, you did the one thing that you were told not to do, and further disgraced your name in the process."
"James Barkley, for your crimes against both Carmelita Montoya Fox, who you fired under false conditions and ruined the life of in the process," Secretary Anu stated, revealing that they must have planned this out, allowing the four of them to speak with Secretary Sen just watched, and that he was doomed, to which he hung his head in shame, "and for your crimes against Interpol, in hiring corrupted cops, corrupting cops in the process, and many other things, such as promoting Neyla while destroying Carmelita's name, you are hereby discharged from Interpol and sentenced to spend the rest of your life behind bars."
Barkley said nothing as the officers on the other side of the door opened the door, cuffed him, and dragged him out of the room, allowing the five Secretaries to either disperse or speak about the next subject that they needed to discuss, of which there would be plenty if they looked at what needed to be done to restore Interpol to what it had been before Barkley damaged it's reputation.
"You mortals are fun to play around with," Bast commented, as there was a closely guarded secret that only the Secretaries knew, one that many people wouldn't believe even if they went out and told them the truth, before she glanced over at one of her fellow Secretaries, "don't you agree, Anu?"
"If you say so, Bast," Anu said, to which he looked at the stack of papers that they still had to go through and knew that they wouldn't be doing anything fun for the next few days, before he stretched and opened the first folder, "At the very least the Cooper Gang should be happy when they hear the news about Barkley."
Secretary Sen nodded his head as he smiled, as right now, if the guards were doing exactly as the five of them had ordered them to do, they could be escorting a defeated Barkley outside, where the press would watch him be placed under arrest and that Interpol was cleaning up the rest of his mess... and then it was only a matter of time until the Cooper Gang, or more specifically Carmelita, learned of his fate.
The meal, to Sly's surprise, went better than what he was expecting, as Carmelita's family was nice once he discovered that they were fine with the two of them being together, though it was clear that they were expecting the two of them to get married at some point. Sly wanted that with all his heart, he really did, though the way that Haytham Fox glanced at them made him wonder if there was one member of the family that knew more than they were letting on, but that was soon followed by Edward Fox seeming to give him similar glances as well. There was something that the two of them knew that he didn't, that much he could tell from the glances that they were giving him, and the rest of the gang seemed to sense this as well, even Clockwerk, who was playing the part of 'Cogs' to the letter and didn't say anything since he had such a distinctive voice, seemed to have the same feelings that they were having. Sly wondered, for the briefest moment, if there was the possibility that Carmelita's grandfather knew that Clockwerk was in the same room as the rest of them, but at the same time he didn't seem to make a big deal out of it.
When the meal was over, and both of Carmelita's parents wanted to talk with her for a few minutes, Haytham Fox beckoned for Sly to follow him for a moment, to which the both of them walked down one of the halls until they came to a specific statue that he wanted to stare at... one that, when Sly looked closely, had a Cooper emblem etched into part of it, though why he had no idea.
"How much do you know of the Cooper Vault?" Haytham asked, surprising Sly for a moment, as the only time he had heard the term was when he read about it in several mentions in the Thievius Raccoonus, while at the same time wondering how he knew about such a secret.
"If I'm being honest, not much." Sly admitted, because if Carmelita's family was going to be open to the thought of Carmelita falling in love with a thief, and becoming one due to the fact that she couldn't be a cop anymore, he decided to be open with them, "Several of my ancestors make mentions of such a place, but they didn't write down where it's located and it's said that the Vault is where each of them hid a portion of the wealth they accumulated during their various heists, so its hard to say if such a place exists or not."
"Oh, the Cooper Vault definitely exists," Haytham replied, to which he stepped up to the statue and rested a hand against the emblem that was on it, which sunk in and revealed a slip of paper, one that he withdrew and handed over to Sly immediately, "Since the Foxes were good friends of the Coopers, something that the public didn't know about, your father and Jim McSweeney, the muscle of his gang, came by one day and dropped off this statue, knowing that we would keep it safe until the time you needed it. If everything went according to their plan, and I have the feeling that it did, then you'll be able to find McSweeney at Heathrow Penitentiary with something very special to give you... something that will lead you right to the location of the Cooper Vault, if what they said is correct."
Sly stared at the piece of paper, detailing the exact location of the prison in question, and knew what Haytham might be thinking, that what the gang needed was one more adventure before he and Carmelita tied themselves together as a family... and, even as Haytham walked away, he knew what they needed to do, to which he headed back to where the rest of the gang was resting, as they would be very interested in what he had to tell them.
After meeting with Carmelita's side of the family, and getting to know them, Sly had Bentley send a message to Secretary Sen the moment they returned to the gang's base of operations in Paris, a message that asked him if it would be alright for him and one other member of the gang, Carmelita he knew, to meet with Jim McSweeney at Heathrow Penitentiary. He then revealed, both to the Secretary and to the rest of the gang, the existence of the Cooper Vault, something he originally thought to be a myth thanks to the Thievius Raccoonus, and that McSweeney had something for him that would either confirm or deny the existence of such a place. Derpy, Gilda, Diz, and Carmelita, all having read the book and learned the techniques that the other members of the Cooper Clan had created while reading their stories, knew the stories that he was referring to and seemed excited about the fact that they might confirm the existence of such a place. Even Clockwerk, who had been following the Cooper Clan for hundreds of years since he first turned his body to metal, had never seen the resting place of the Cooper Vault, which came as a surprise to Sly, but at the same time that only confirmed that his ancestors wanted to keep the place a secret.
Fortunately for them Secretary Sen got back to them rather quickly, where he said that it shouldn't be too hard for him to arrange an official visit for them, as he knew that they would rather not have to sneak into the prison to discover the information that McSweeney had for them.
Not even a few days later Sly and Carmelita, along with Secretary Sen as their personal escort for their visit to Heathrow Penitentiary, walked up some flights of stairs and followed their guide as he led the way to where McSweeney was staying, but at the same time they looked around at the well guarded cells that were around them. Each prisoner seemed to be well secured in their cells, all of which seemed to have been modified in some manner to make sure that their occupants couldn't escape or, in some cases, use certain skills they had gained becoming coming here to escape, making them wonder if this was where Mz. Ruby had been before being transferred to the prison she had trained Derpy, Gilda, and Diz in. It was rather interesting to think about this place, as it was located in the United States and not anywhere near Paris, but Interpol apparently had prisons everywhere and all of them seemed to be well staffed, with guards that seemed to know what they were doing, and ensured that prisoners didn't even consider attempting to escape. As they walked by some of the cells Sly found three members of the Klaww Gang, the ones that hadn't been freed because of the fact that they had annoyed, and in the case of two of them disobeyed, Secretary Sen; the Contessa, who simply sighed and looked away from the doorway as they went by, Arpeggio, who seemed to be calculating where his plans went wrong for this to happen, and Neyla... who simply sat on her bed with a look of defeat in her eyes, as she barely raised her head to acknowledge their passing and continued to stare at the floor.
Sly was shocked to see that, even a year after her plans came apart, that Neyla was still devastated by her near death experience, but in the end he knew that she deserved it for trying to tear his family apart and, at the very end of it all, had gotten Carmelita fired... but that was when Secretary Sen stopped at a cell that had a plexiglass wall with ventilation holes punched into the top, with an overweight walrus, who was wearing a pair of blue pants and no shirt, that happened to be sitting on the bed.
"Jim McSweeney," Secretary Sen said, causing the walrus' ears to perk for a moment, indicating that it must have been some time since he had been spoken to by someone that wasn't one of the guards that were assigned to the prison, before the man turned towards him as he beckoned to his companions, "you have some visitors."
"That so?" McSweeney asked, to which he stood up and walked over to the part of the wall that had a slot in it, so that he could get his meals when they were delivered or hand a guard a letter if he wanted to send one to someone, where he stared at Sly and Carmelita, or, more specifically, Sly, "You... you're Conner's son, aren't you?"
"Yes, my father was Conner Cooper." Sly replied, locking eyes with McSweeney for a moment, as he could tell, thanks to the time he spent with his sisters, that this person seemed to have great respect for his father and might have been his closest friend at one point in time, confirming Haytham Fox's earlier words, "I understand that you knew my father for quite some time, even helping him move a statue into a safe hiding place inside the home of Haytham James Fox."
"Aye, I remember that day well," McSweeney said, to which he reached into the folds of his body and pulled out an older Cooper Gang calling card, the ones that Sly's father had left on all the heists he had been on, before slipping it back into his hiding place, though when Sly glanced at Secretary Sen the powerful man shook his head, indicating that it wasn't worth asking about, where he glanced at Carmelita for a moment, "You must be Edward and Margret Fox's daughter... Carmelita Montoya Fox, if I'm remembering what Haytham told us while we were moving that statue into place."
"Actually, it's Carmelita Montoya Cooper these days," Carmelita replied, where she fingered the Cooper emblem that she now wore in place of her old Inspector badge, as sometimes it calmed her down and, in the case like this, let the man in front of them know that she could be trusted with whatever information he had, "Sly and I aren't married, not yet anyway, but we're already thinking about that in the future."
"Conner must be happy to have someone like you being his son's future wife." McSweeney commented, not even noticing the fact that both Sly and Carmelita rubbed their arms for a moment, a telltale sign that he had said something that brought up something, but since he was lost in thought he didn't seem to notice at all, "You know, Conner and I were good friends back in the day. We went on many heists together, went all over the world in the process, and gathered quite an impressive amount of loot in the process. I was his muscleman, doing all the heavy lifting when it was called for and my power was behind all the escapes that we needed to pull off."
"That sounds like Murray." Sly said, to which Carmelita nodded her head, as he was the only person in the gang that had the sort of strength that McSweeney was talking about, but at the same time that only made them wonder where Murray could have wandered off to, as they had expected him to have returned by now.
"It makes sense that you would have someone on your team that's like me, even if you didn't know about me until recently." McSweeney spoke up, hearing what Sly had said and connected it to the gang that he must be leading at the moment, reminding him of the days he ran with Conner, before he decided to ask a question to see if he was right in his thinking, "Let me guess, you have someone on your team that handles all the tech as well?"
"Yeah, Bentley and Cogs." Carmelita replied, as the gang agreed that, when dealing with people that knew more about the Cooper Clan than the average person did, such as McSweeney for instance, they would refer to Clockwerk as 'Cogs', to make sure that no one assumed they were working with the family's ancient enemy, "We've also got three magic users that double as Master Thieves as well, two of which grew up along Sly, Murray, and Bentley when they were younger. The entire gang has a good relationship going among all it's members."
"That's good to hear." McSweeney said, as he was happy to hear that Conner's son had a gang that seemed to have an even stronger relationship between their members than his own gang did, or at least between the two of them and the person that served as their tech expert, to which he turned towards Sly, "You should treasure those relationships, as I know that is what Conner did with our friendship. Though you should be on the lookout for a mandrill by the name of Dr. M, as he was our tech expect when we were still a gang... it's why Conner and I had to resort to such actions to hide the information for you to find later on. Dr. M wasn't too happy about the division of the loot, Conner's insistence that he follow the traditions of his family, his overall relationship with both Conner and myself, and, maybe more important than anything else, the fact that Conner stopped being a thief when his wife, Amanda, was pregnant."
Sly and Carmelita glanced at each other for a moment, as both of them, the rest of the gang, and only specific members of Interpol knew that the person that had killed Sly's parents was ultimately Clockwerk, but, at the same time, Sly was surprised to hear his mother's name, as this was the first time he was hearing it.
"Anyway, Conner, following the traditions of his ancestors, stored the lion's share of his loot inside the Cooper Vault before he stopped being a thief," McSweeney continued, not noticing that the duo had said nothing to his words, as he was lost in thought and was remembering things that would be useful for them in the near future, "just like each and every one of his ancestors did before him. The last time I saw him, which was before I landed myself in here, Conner handed me a map to the location of the Cooper Vault, intended for you at some point in the future as some sort of test I assume, and told me to tell you that 'Only a Cooper and open the Vault'. I knew that he wanted me to keep the map safe from those that sought to steal the entire Cooper fortune, and maybe claim they were better than the Coopers in the process, so I intentionally got myself thrown in here and got myself locked in this cell... though, as a side effect, I've got a rep that means the other inmates won't mess with me and the cell can only be opened by a very specific key that only a few members of the staff know the existence of."
"Only a Master Thief would be able to let you out." Secretary Sen said, meaning it in the sense that if someone wanted to get at the map, if they knew he had it, they would have to act like a Cooper Thief in order to get at McSweeney, even though he was thinking about testing this system against the Coopers one day to see if the prison was as great as the wardens claimed it was.
"And I'm sure that he'd fight us anyway, to stay here and protect the map dad gave him." Sly commented, knowing that McSweeney basically gave up everything in his entire life to safeguard the location of the Cooper Vault, and wouldn't let someone bust him out until he felt the time was right to hand over the map.
"Indeed." McSweeney said, agreeing with Sly the moment he started talking, as he reminded him of Conner, which only made him look around for a few moments, because when he thought about the day he'd meet the son of his best friend, like he was now, he always imagined that Conner would be here, "Say, since we've been talking about Conner for a bit, I've got a question. Where is he? I expected him to be here the day you came looking for the map."
"Dad... dad's dead..." Sly replied, to which he looked down at the floor for a moment, because despite the fact that he eventually got revenge on Clockwerk for taking away his parents, and landing him in the orphanage, it still hurt to think about the fact that he never got to truly know who his parents were, "S... So's mom..."
Carmelita, knowing that Sly usually got emotional when he talked about his parents, did the only thing that she could think of in a situation like this, she shifted her cane into her left hand and wrapped her right arm around Sly, who smiled at her for a moment, his way of silently thanking her for being there for him, just like he was there for her when they were dealing with Neyla's antics last year.
"I... I'm so sorry. I didn't know they were gone." McSweeney said, though it was in that moment that Carmelita noticed that he was genuinely upset over making Sly sad, meaning that he truly had no idea that both Conner and Amanda Cooper had been killed some time ago, but that was followed by a look of determination appearing on his face as he reached into a different fold and withdrew a well preserved map that he slipped into the slot between them, "Here... the last instructions Conner gave me, in the event that you came looking for me and he wasn't present, was for me to hand the map over to you, so you could visit the Vault, learn more about your ancestors, and, when the time is right, add in part of your loot to your family's fortune."
"Thanks McSweeney." Sly said, taking the map from the slot that was in front of them, though at the same time he looked at the walrus and smiled, knowing that his father had been a lucky man to have such a loyal friend, even one that had sacrificed his entire life to keep the map safe.
McSweeney nodded and shooed them off, indicating that it was time for them to get going so they could follow the map to where the Cooper Vault was located, to which Sly and Carmelita nodded as they followed Secretary Sen back through the route they had used to reach McSweeney's cell. As they did that Carmelita had to stop for a moment, as she felt the need to look around for a moment, and was surprised when she glanced to the other side of the holding area that they were in, as the cell that was right across from where Neyla's was located held the last person that she ever expected to see inside this prison; Barkley. The former Director of Interpol, disgraced and arrested for his crimes against both her and the crime he committed in going against Secretary Sen's orders while also allying himself with a criminal organization to take the Cooper Gang out, just sat in his cell and didn't even look up as she stared across the way at him. Part of her was angry with him, as she liked being an Inspector and keeping Sly in line from her side of the law, even if she felt that he and his gang was pretty tame already, while another part of her felt pity for him, as he had been a decorated officer and an inspiring Director that she had been planning on replacing one day, back when she was chasing Sly before she became the handler of the gang... but now, as she stared across at her former boss, who had ruined her life for a time, and thought about what happened she sighed, as now she felt no desire to speak with him and walked over to where Sly and Secretary Sen were standing.
From there the three of them made their way to a private airport, the same one they used to get to this area, and Secretary Sen had the pilot fly them out to an island that the rest of the gang was waiting on by the time they arrived, as Bentley already had an idea as to where the Vault was located. After that the gang took a boat out into the water and followed the clues that were provided on the map, finding that each one they discovered was right where the map said they would be and continued to draw closer and closer to the location of the Cooper Vault.
A day after the gang left the island that they got the boat from Secretary Sen had them come to a stop as they neared the island that the Cooper Vault was supposed to be located on, Kaine Island as it turned out, but as they came to a stop the gang noticed that Dr. M must have already set up shop. That was because there were fortress like walls surrounding the majority of the island, searchlights that would make it hard for any thief to get close to the inner parts of the fortress, and had actually exposed the entrance of the Vault, but couldn't seem to get inside. That was good news for them, as it meant that the Cooper Fortune was safe, but at the same time they knew next to nothing about the fortress and Bentley, always thinking about what they needed, had Gilda, Derpy, and Diz take some very specific photos of the area that they were in, while at the same time using Clockwerk's eyes to scan the entire structure so they could have a blueprint of everything that they saw while they were here. While all this happened Secretary Sen discovered something interesting when he reached out to another one of his fellow Secretaries, and that was the fact that the deed to the island, which appeared to be passed down through the Cooper Clan from one generation to the next, had been stolen a week after the death of Sly's father... which only made him suspect Dr. M, since he was the only one with the motive to do such a thing.
By the time Bentley was done, and the gang was back together, Secretary Sen pulled them out of the water near the island and had them headed back towards the island that they had come from, though at the same time he set the auto-pilot so they would have some time to see what needed to be done before they attempted to get at the Vault.
"So, what's the plan Bentley?" Sly asked, as he knew that, based on the familiar looks on Bentley's face, that he was in the middle of forming a plan that would allow them to get at the Cooper Vault and expel Dr. M, who Secretary Sen was already looking forward to locking away once they caught him.
"I'm sorry to say it, but even with our combined talents we won't be able to get anywhere near the Cooper Vault, and that's including all the magic we have at our disposal," Bentley said, shocking the magic users for a moment, as they had used their powers to great effect and were a little saddened that they wouldn't be able to use them in such a manner to get at the Vault, "We're going to need more members before we can take a crack at the Cooper Vault, a larger gang than what we have at the moment, and I have a list of what we need... and the first spot we need to fill is a familiar one. We need to find Murray and bring him back into the gang."
"You know, it's funny that you should mention Murray," Secretary Sen spoke up, causing the group to turn towards him for a moment, as they weren't actually expecting him to contribute anything to what they were about to do, "I've heard reports that Murray has been sighted in Venice recently, as in the last few days I might add, and it seems like he might be in the territory of the mob boss Octavio. We've been trying to rat him out for a while now... so, why don't we knock out two birds with one stone?"
Sly and the rest of the gang stared at each other for a few moments, as they were still surprised that Secretary Sen was willing to help them this much and wondered if he might have a deeper connection to the Cooper Clan than they originally thought, but in the end they agreed that it would be best if they lent Interpol a hand... and, as they headed off towards Venice, Sly had the feeling that things were about to get real exciting once they arrived.
The boat trip to Venice gave the gang time to read up on everything that Secretary Sen could provide them on Octavio, the local mob boss that commanded the Vincenetti Gang that controlled the area, and they made sure that they memorized everything that he offered them. From what they could tell Octavio, when he was still growing up, used to be a real celebrity in the neighborhood, as everyone loved to hear him sing opera and said he was destined to be the next great tenor, but, as with the other people they had take on over the years, things changed for him, because just as his career started to take off, everyone's musical tastes changed. Suddenly, from what all of the reports said, all the people cared about anymore was rock music, and that no one wanted to listen to opera anymore, but Octavio did hold onto a few fans, and it was these mobsters that took him into "the business". The gang knew that, from the various reports that were offered to them, that heading onto this guy's turf was going to be dangerous and require more stealth than what they usually used in their operations, but, at the same time, it was worth it for a chance to make things right with Murray.
Eventually they reached a point that made them come to a stop, as Secretary Sen had to get off and take the boat back to where they got it from, but there was another boat they could use to get close to Venice and, as an added bonus, he also promised them at Inspector Hopps was on her way with a task force to investigate the area... and help them in any manner that they needed, though he didn't have to tell them that as they went their separate ways once more.
It didn't take them long to reach the floating city that was Venice, where all of them found that the city was beautiful and had a number of canals, which they had known about long before they decided to come here to find Murray, but all of them agreed that the Ferris Wheel, the blimp with Octavio's likeness on it, the likeness of Octavio on the clock tower, and the black stains in the water seemed out of place in a city like this. Fortunately the various guards, which were pigeons, cats, and some dogs that reminded them of the goons from Muggshot's place, which they had told Diz about, didn't notice the gang as they road their small boat under the Rialto Bridge and made their way around the exterior of the city before finding a good place to stash it until they were ready to leave. Another thing that was in their favor was that Inspector Hopps had arrived before them and knew of a safe house that the gang could use, which was actually past a small bridge that was near where she and her task force would be operating, and she allowed them to take up residence in the clearly abandoned building, which served their purposes quite nicely. As they entered the building the group found that there was a window that allowed them too look out at the city that was in front of them and that Bentley was able to find a round table for them to use.
The moment they all entered the building the gang set down their bags and pulled some chairs over to where the table was located, indicating that they were ready for whatever Bentley had to tell them, as they were all sure that he already had an idea for them to begin their search for Murray.
"Given Murray's criminal past, it seems logical to start our search at the local police station." Bentley said, though at the same time the rest of the gang noticed that he had something else to tell them, which was why they were being silent at the moment, "It seems unlikely that he would already be in custody, otherwise we would have been told that ahead of time, so that means that Inspector Hopps and her task force have to have some information on all the crooks in Venice."
"Then we'll simply go over there and ask her if she has an idea where Murray might be located," Carmelita stated, as she knew that Judy, as her friend before she was fired, was one of the few people that had been on her side before she was forced to retire, and, as the handler of the Cooper Gang, she could either assist them or stay out of their way until they took out Octavio, which they were planning on doing, regardless if Murray was here or not.
Sly nodded and together he and Carmelita walked down to the first level of the building, walked outside the moment the pigeon guard walked by the door, and made their way over towards the entrance of the police station, where they found that the door was unlocked and they were able to slip in without anyone discovering that they were in there. As they stood in the corner, away from the guards and near the office that Judy likely took as her office for this operation, they came to a stop and listened to the presentation that the new Inspector had for her mercenary task force, where the two of them discovered that they were here to investigate the mysterious tar that has been seeping into the water for the last month. It appeared that Interpol believed that the person responsible for such an outrage was Don Octavio, the same man that was in control of the mob in the area and was going to be an obstacle between them and getting Murray back into the Cooper Gang, but, because they lacked enough evidence to actually get a warrant this time around, they were forced to do things the old-fashioned way... though the moment her presentation was over, and the goons seemed to stay in their seats as they discussed the operation, Judy walked towards her office and found both Sly and Carmelita waiting for her.
Instead of saying anything Judy opened the door and ushered the duo inside her office, where she locked the door and made sure that the mercenaries were preoccupied, before she sighed and turned towards the duo with a small smile on her face, indicating that she was happy to see one of them.
"Carmelita! It's good to see you again." Judy said, where she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around her friend for a moment, something that Carmelita returned not a few seconds later, while at the same time Sly stood there and waited for them to separate, though he was happy to see that Carmelita had friends outside the gang, "So, what brings the two of you to my office? I'm sure that it's not about the building that I found for you, since Bentley seemed to find it appropriate, and I doubt you've done anything that would change the situation that I just briefed my team on."
"We were hoping that you might have some leads on where Murray might be," Sly replied, though at the same time both Judy and Carmelita pulled apart from each other, just in case one of the mercenaries came to the door while they were talking, "Or, at the very least, some clues for your investigation that we might be able to assist with."
Judy stared at him for a moment, as if thinking about something, before she walked over to her desk and pulled out a flash drive that appeared to have been given to her at some point in time before she came to this area, with a flaming wing mark that meant that it came from Secretary Sen. It appeared that this was his way of demonstrating that he trusted the gang and had some information to share with them, which meant that Judy was supposed to share it with the gang as well, though as she handed it over she did say that she had a brief sighting of Murray near the Rialto Bridge when they were setting up their base and that it would be the best place for them to find him. She didn't bother to remind them about the rules of the arrangement they had with Secretary Sen, as they remembered it since they had been the ones to agree to it when they first met the man, and quickly unlocked the door so the duo could leave the way they came, without any of the mercenaries noticing them at all. The moment they were outside the building, and were sure that no one was following them, both Sly and Carmelita headed back to the safe house so they could give Bentley the flash drive that they had been handed, so he could begin forming a plan of attack immediately... before heading out for the Rialto Bridge, where they remained true to their thieving ways and took the treasures from the pockets of the guards they walked by.
When they reached their destination they stood up on top of the structure that was located on the bridge, which they had spotted when they used the boat to go under it, and observed the area around them, keeping an eye out for Murray so they could speak with him before he disappeared again.
"Sly? Carmelita?" a voice asked, to which the duo moved over to the edge of the structure that they were on and found a familiar face staring up at them, where they smiled as they noticed that Murray was the one that had found them first, which was great news since they were looking for him.
"Murray!" Sly said, where he dropped down onto the bridge and approached his childhood friend, while at the same time Carmelita landed behind him and kept her eyes open for any enemies, just in case someone spotted them and came to investigate the area, "Boy am I glad to see you... even though you look a little different."
It was interesting because Murray looked almost identical to when Sly and the rest of the gang had seen last him, back before he left to go find inner peace despite Bentley's injuries not being his fault, as he was still wearing the same blue shirt that he had been wearing, despite it needing to either be washed or thrown out. In addition to all of that he was wearing some white Dreamtime make-up on the lower part of his body and on his face, complete with what appeared to be a crown made from grass resting on top of his head, a yellow cape that must mean something to him, and a necklace of teeth that he proudly wore around his neck.
"A different path in life calls for a different set of clothing," Murray replied, sounding much more relaxed and at peace with himself than he usually was, showing them the progress he had made with his Dreamtime training and revealing that he must have impressed whoever his instructor was, before a brief flash of nervousness came and went in a matter of a few seconds, "Is... is Bentley here?"
"Along with the rest of the gang," Carmelita said, though she smiled as Murray looked over at her with a peaceful smile on his face, because despite how he looked he was still a member of the gang and he knew that, by looking at her, that she had embraced the gang with ease, "Murray, I sort of understand what you're going through, having to change from being a cop and becoming a full time thief, and I don't blame you for what happened... neither does Derpy, Gilda, Diz, or even Sly and Bentley for that matter. Hell, even Clockwerk, whose body was the main reason Bentley ended up in this situation, doesn't blame you for what happened that day... in fact the ancient owl seems to be the most depressed out of all of us, despite Derpy's attempts to make him feel better."
"He continues to surprise me, he really does," Sly added, as while he still thought that it was unusual for Clockwerk to be so mellow and not spout anything like he did during their first fight, about how he was the superior thief and how he hated the Cooper Clan, he had to admit that the ancient owl might have made a friend in Bentley, though that didn't stop him from keeping his eyes open for trouble, "though Bentley didn't want to come with us in case things turned too emotional because of people bringing up his situation."
"That's okay," Murray said, causing the two of them to turn towards him, as they were interested in why he was here and why he was so close to where Octavio's base of operations was located, before he beckoned to the water that was near them, which had the black stains on it that they had seen earlier, "My Guru, in his wisdom, told me to lose myself and not return until the black water ran pure, so here I stay."
Sly and Carmelita glanced at each other for a moment, as it sounded like Murray was definitely on a Spirit Quest and wouldn't leave the area until the water problem was taken care of, to which they turned back towards Murray and told him that the gang was going to help him figure out what was going on... before the two of them headed back to the safe house while he continued what he had been doing until he found them standing on the bridge's structure.
As it turned out Bentley, with the assistance of Clockwerk, had come up with a plan of attack so they could dismantle Octavio's operation, show the people of Venice what he was doing, solve Murray's problem, and give Inspector Hopps a new criminal to arrest once the job was done. The first thing Bentley wanted them to do was send a few of them to break into Octavio's opera house and see if they could some information that they could use against him, while at the same time another group would be looking out for photographic evidence of their target contributing to what was going on. Thanks to their connection with Secretary Sen they would be able to send the evidence to him, so he could see what was going on for himself, and another set to Inspector Hopps, that way, in case there was a mole on the inside of the task force, Interpol would still know what was going on. Bentley also stated that he would be keeping an eye on the local communication frequencies, just in case something happened in the near future that would require them to make a change of plans, and the gang agreed that it was a wise move since they were unfamiliar with what their opponent was doing.
From what Bentley said it appeared that Sly and Carmelita were going to tackle the opera house break-in, Gilda and Derpy were going to keep an eye out for Don Octavio, which left Bentley and Diz to keep an ear on the communications and act accordingly, in case something happened. At first Sly wondered if Bentley was going to have the ancient owl stay with him and Diz, to assist them in whatever they discovered, but, as he and Carmelita headed out to do their mission, he discovered that Clockwerk was following after them, to assist them in whatever manner they needed. He knew that the ancient owl wasn't too keen on helping him, since he had been his target for many years, and he honestly wasn't happy with the situation either, but since Secretary Sen had entrusted them with Clockwerk a year ago, to watch over him and decide whether he deserved the change that Derpy had given him, there wasn't much they could do about the situation and simply accepted the owl's presence. As such the three of them made their way over to the opera house and headed over to the side yard, as that was the point of entry that Bentley suggested that they take to get inside the building, though when they arrived Sly opened the wooden door and let Carmelita, as well as Clockwerk, entered the canal area that ran beneath the opera house.
The first thing the group discovered was that there was a double button security door in front of them, to which Sly and Carmelita stood in front of one of the buttons and pressed them at the same time, allowing the door to open and head further into the canal area. At the bottom of the stairs that were behind the first door they found a second room that was identical to the first floor and that they needed to so the same thing to a second security door, something that they got around quite easily and continued moving to avoid whatever was down here with them. That was when the group reached the canal area, where Sly noticed that if Bentley had come along with them he would have had to stay behind for a few minutes before he and Carmelita dropped some sort of bridge for him to follow them, but, at the same time, they were able to maneuver their way through the obstacles and reach the other side with ease. Clockwerk, on the other hand, simply stared at them and flew over to the other side of the room that they were in, as he didn't feel the need to sneak along with them, where he raised a wing and loosed a sleep dart into the cat guard's neck... so when Sly and Carmelita caught up with him they wouldn't have to worry about the guard, who the ancient owl moved out of the way while also lowering some boats so the duo could get out of the area when they were finished here, instead of going through all the obstacles again.
"Nice work Clockwerk," Carmelita said, as she knew that the ancient owl was attempting to impress Sly and hopefully convince him that he might have changed for the better, and she was willing to give this side of the owl a chance until he changed on them, before she glanced at the door in front of them, which was reinforced and much stronger than anything they had found so far, "You wouldn't, by chance, happen to have something like Bentley's bombs on you... otherwise we won't be able to get to our objective."
I do. Clockwerk replied, because one of the things he and Bentley had worked on over the last year was adapting the turtle's bombs to become miniature versions of themselves and had stored quite a number inside his inner storage area, were part of his chest opened and he pulled one of the bombs out, though as it started to enlarge he stuck it on the center of the door, before beckoning for them to move.
That was followed by the bomb growing to the size that they normally were when Bentley used them before it finally detonated, blowing the door wide open and allowing the three of them to move up the stairs that were on the other side of it, while at the same time avoiding the laser defenses that were guarding the stairs. Since they didn't have to worry about leaving someone behind Sly and Carmelita entered the vent that was nearby, at the top of the stairs, and made their way towards the other side of the room that they had entered, though Clockwerk waited until they were at their destination before heading through the vents as well. On the other side of the vent they found a cat guard with a shining pocket, to which Sly smiled as he snatched the loot that was inside the pocket before Clockwerk knocked him out with another dart, which he recovered like the one before it, and the owl waited for them to move the guard out of the way before using a second bomb to destroy the security door that was in front of them. From there the group walked down the stairs that were in front of them, avoiding the lasers that were in their way, and the ancient owl used a few more darts to knock out the foes that were coming to investigate the noise of the door being destroyed... before Sly and Carmelita used the pair of buttons in front of them and opened the next door that was blocking their way, allowing them to move even closer to their destination.
Fortunately that was as far as they needed to go, because at the top of the stairs was a large room with a computer that had to be what Bentley told them to look for, to which Sly and Carmelita approached the device while Clockwerk flew over and landed on the side of it.
"You know, it's times like this that I wish I understood how to hack into something," Sly commented, though at the same time he knew that it was best if he remained as a thief of the gang and not another computer expert, even though his skills in such a field would be useless since he had no experience, before he turned towards the owl that was staring at the computer, "Clockwerk, you can hack into the computer... right?"
It is a Worlizter-700. I can easily splice into this and get the information we're after. the ancient owl replied, to which he jumped down onto the keyboard area, moved over to a nearby port, and revealed a connector, tied to a flash drive, that he only used whenever he was personally hacking into something, which was why he continued to have his systems upgraded so he could be current on the latest software, Give me a few minutes... I'll be done in no time.
Sly and Carmelita stood by, fully expecting guards to show up the moment that Clockwerk started his hacking session, but, as it turned out, the ancient owl was more skilled than they originally thought, because the first thing he did was disable the delay switch that he discovered, revealing that there wouldn't be any guards to pester them. The two of them entered up standing around for a few minutes, making sure the area was secure for their departure, before Clockwerk, as he promised, declared his victory and unplugged himself from the computer, where he disconnected the flash drive for now and stored it away. From there the three of them made their way back through the cleared obstacles that they had gone through to reach this area and made sure not to wake the guards that were napping on the floor, but when they finally reached the area they had entered the building through, and started to head back towards the safe house, Sly said that Clockwerk did a good job on their mission and Carmelita agreed with him... especially since they wouldn't have been able to succeed without the skills he had offered them.
As they headed back towards the safe house, however, Sly noticed that Clockwerk seemed to be lost in thought about something, likely his actions that had aided the gang, as the owl simply sat on his shoulder all the way back to their base of operations... and, at the same time, he also had to wonder how the others were doing at the moment.
Gilda and Derpy, sticking to the mission that Bentley had told them they would be doing while Sly and Carmelita headed into the opera house to gather information, with Clockwerk flying after them in his miniature owl form, carefully flew around the entirety of the Venice area that Octavio controlled and searched for their target. Every now and then one of them would spot a guard with a loot filled pocket and, true to the thieves that they were, they would swoop down, loot the pocket dry, and then flee back into the sky before the guard even realized they were there. It continued to amuse them that the guards that they had to go against couldn't hear the sounds of their wings when they flew through the air, though they weren't sure if that was because of the Cooper Clan techniques or because of their magic, but both of them weren't going to argue with the results. Eventually the two of them returned to one of the roofs that they had landed on earlier, so they could keep an eye out for any signs of Don Octavio, and paused when they heard their binocucoms go off, to which both of them pulled their device out and held it in front of their faces.
"Heads up girls, I've intercepted a radio message from one of Octavio's men." Bentley spoke up, though as the two of them looked around the area they spotted the lion in question moving up the ramp and approached one of the service stations that were in the area, one that had a valve behind the door, "The Don is moving towards your position!"
"Yeah, we see him," Gilda said, though it appeared that their target was preparing to do something, which was perfect considering that she and Derpy were preparing to use their camera functions to take come pictures, "Don't worry Bentley, we'll follow him and take some pictures of whatever he's doing, since it looks like he might be getting ready to provide us with some evidence that he's the one behind this city's tar epidemic. Hopefully these pictures will allow Inspector Hopps and the rest of Interpol to do something to Octavio, but at the very least we'll be able to either confirm or deny that he's the one we should be focusing on."
Not a few seconds later Octavio turned the valve that was in front of him and tar started to pour out into the fountain that was right behind him, to which the sisters snapped a few pictures of their target incriminating himself, but after a few moments he stopped turning the valve and closed the service station, before apparently moving towards the next location that he was going to be messing with. As such both Gilda and Derpy took to the skies and followed after him, making sure to keep him in their sights at all times and made sure that the guards didn't see them, as that would ruin the mission if one of the guards spotted them, before Octavio stopped at the other end of the bridge that connected to where their safe house was located. The sad part about the second valve was that Octavio turned a bird bath into a bird death trap, which both of the sisters got shots of without him even knowing they were there, before he moved into the location of the third valve, which was actually located near his opera house, hidden behind some buildings. That was where the sisters noticed Octavio clogging a water wheel with tar, which they snapped some pictures of from a safe distance, and soon enough their target was heading out to his destination without knowing that they were even following him.
When Octavio reached the fourth valve the sisters discovered something horrible as they snapped pictures of what he was doing, he was pumping tar into the nearby aquarium full of tar, killing all of the fish that was in there while he prepared Venice for whatever he was planning... and soon he made his way over to the Ferris Wheel and jumped onto one of the moving carts, where Derpy latched onto the side of the cart, without him noticing, and opened a link so everyone in the gang could hear what Octavio was talking about.
"Listen Giovanni, this Ferris Wheel was a good idea; she's a'pumping the tar fast, and nobody, but nobody suspects a thing!" Octavio said, revealing that the seemingly innocent ride that he was standing on actually served a sinister purpose, while at the same time enraging several of the gang members in the process, "But still... is it going to be enough to get things ready for my opera recital?... Bella! When the people come to see me sing, I want to make a'sure they keep a comin'... even if they don't feel like it. One way or the other, they'll be opera fans again. Ok, see you soon."
In the instant that Octavio's call was done, and he was still unaware that someone had been following him, he jumped off the cart he had been riding on and headed back into the streets around him, though as Derpy climbed off the cart Bentley informed them that both he and Clockwerk were on their way. That told the sisters that Sly and Carmelita had finished their mission already, which was good to hear, though as the pair came over to their area Clockwerk used his talons and tore open the control panel that was in front of them, before both he and Bentley started messing with the controls. Both of them were annoyed with Octavio killing a bunch of innocent fish, or rather Bentley was more annoyed about that than Clockwerk was, and soon enough they backed away from the now unstable Ferris Wheel, which tore itself from where it was being held and crashed into the water that was in front of where they were standing.
With the Ferris Wheel destroyed, and part of the operation crippled, the four of them returned to the safe house, so they could send the photos to who they needed to go to and see if there was anything else they needed to do before they started the second stage of Bentley's plan to take down Octavio... and then they could watch the water become clear and then bring Murray back into the team once that happened, where he belonged.
When Bentley, Gilda, Derpy, and Clockwerk returned to the safe house, and joined Sly and Carmelita, the gang assumed that Bentley would inform them of what the next stage of their plan was, so they could dismantle Octavio's operations more than they already have. Before they could actually do that, and get the show on the road, the device that Bentley had set up to monitor the communication frequencies in the area revealed an alarming message that required some of the gang to take immediate action, especially since it involved Inspector Hopps. What they discovered was that, shortly before their official arrive in Venice, Octavio had hired the Blue Viper Gondola Gang to come in and take out Inspector Hopps, and they had just recently arrived and where getting ready to head out so they could fulfill their contract. Unfortunately there was some bad news as well, Judy was last seen a few minutes ago heading out into the canals on her own gondola, to perform her patrol while her task force readied themselves, and that meant that it was unlikely that she was going to hear them calling for her attention so they could save her. The side effect to that was that the Blue Vipers were likely already right behind her, ready to catch up with her and kill her, to which Bentley, Clockwerk, Sly, and Carmelita headed out to where the police station was located and found some spare police speedboats waiting in front of them.
Sly and Bentley took the first of the two speedboats, which Bentley had to hot-wire so they could use it, before Sly took the driver spot and they sped off to to chase down the first of the Blue Vipers, while Clockwerk did the same thing and Carmelita made sure to steer them towards their targets.
As it turned out the Blue Vipers decided to take different canals to hunt down Judy, who was completely unaware that someone was hunting her at the moment, so both Sly and Carmelita nodded as Bentley and Clockwerk pulled the two speedboats apart from each other and started the search for their targets. Clockwerk primed the guns that were in front of him and prepared himself for when they found their target, though when they found the Blue Vipers both he and Carmelita discovered that two of them were right in front of them, but that didn't stop him from firing the guns at the first of their two targets. At first the Blue Viper that he was firing at didn't seem to notice that someone was firing at him, as it almost looked like he was ignoring everything around him, but when Clockwerk busted open the back of his speedboat, and caused smoke to rise all over his vehicle, that was when the Blue Viper noticed that he was under attack. A few seconds later the speedboat was history, as the barrage of bullets that the ancient owl had sent out were more than enough to take the target out, especially when he paused every now and then to make sure he didn't jam the guns up before the mission was over. The second Blue Viper, on the other hand, was more than ready for battle, as the gunner pulled out what appeared to be a rocket launcher, indicating that Octavio intended to utterly destroy whoever was in his way, and started to prime it as he turned back to face Carmelita and Clockwerk.
What Carmelita wasn't expecting was for Clockwerk to disengage himself from the gun controls and fling himself into the air the moment the rocket was fired, where she watched as the ancient owl dug into the side of the rocket, without causing it to explode, and spun around before hurling the projectile back towards the person who fired it, causing the entire speedboat to detonate when it struck the pile of rockets that the Blue Viper was carrying... though Carmelita pulled the boat to a stop as Clockwerk landed on the front of it and stared at the burning wreckage in front of them.
With two of the Blue Vipers taken care of, Sly and Bentley should be able to take out the other with ease. Clockwerk commented, though his eyes were focused on the wreckage, as it had been a long time since he had taken someone's life, the last being Sly's father, and while it was necessary to save Judy he felt that maybe he had gone a little overboard near the end, At least Inspector Hopps will be safe from them.
"There's nothing you could have done to prevent that boat from blowing up like that," Carmelita said, knowing that Clockwerk was fixated on the flames, as he was used to killing whoever got in his way and had only recently taken up the Cooper Clan's style of knocking out enemies without killing them, though this was the only time she had seen him relapse into his old ways, "besides, you helped save Judy from an untimely death, and I'm positive that the rest of the gang will be happy with you helping them out."
Except Sly. Clockwerk replied, revealing that he knew that the leader of the gang, or family as he had come to personally call the gang of thieves he was stuck with, was observing him and keeping an eye on everything he did, while at the same time knowing that, regardless of what he did, he was unlikely to ever erase the sins he had committed by hunting down the Cooper Clan and, more importantly, killing Sly's parents.
Carmelita didn't have much to say to that, because she was shocked by how defeated and sad the ancient owl actually sounded when he made his comment, as it almost sounded like he was actually trying to prove to Sly that he was changing for the better and might not actually reach that point because of one person... even though Sly had improved his own personal opinion of the owl a little over the last year. She guessed that whatever magic Derpy had used on the Hate Chip, even if it wasn't intentional, had a clear and undeniable impact on the ancient owl and how he usually lived his life, for the better she mentally reflected, and knew that most of the gang was willing to give him another chance, the only problem was that Clockwerk was seeking one person's approval and might not get it at all. It was in that moment, as they turned and headed back towards the safe house as Bentley informed them that the other Blue Viper had been taken care of, that Carmelita decided to at least try and open Sly's mind to the possibility that Clockwerk had changed for the better, as she was the only one of the gang that might have a chance at doing that... especially since it was unlikely that Sly would argue with her over something like this.
When the four of them got back to the dock they had taken the speedboats from, and Sly saying that he would stash one somewhere safe in case they needed it in the future, they joined the rest of the gang in the safe house and Bentley went over the next stage of their plan. According to the decrypted files, that both he and Clockwerk had worked on, Octavio was pumping tar from underneath the foundations of the buildings around Venice, allowing him to sink them into the canals on a whim, and that he was planning on demonstrating this destructive ability to the people of the city during his opera recital on the first day of Carnivale. To counter this threat, Bentley informed them that they would first destroy the balloons and sign advertising the recital, as he was positive that if no one showed up for the event, Octavio would have no reason to sink a building. He then revealed that the blueprints to the main tar vacuum had been cleverly split into three parts and hidden in local coffee houses that were, as the gang suspected, owned by Octavio, and that they were under constant guard, so someone needed to use a disguise to get a small team inside each coffee house. There was also the fact that some big Vincinetti goons had been called in as 'insurance' for the recital, who Inspector Hopps and her task force were keen on taking them, even if the Inspector knew that they would be assisting the gang in the process. The last order of business, before the main operation, was that someone was going to have to convince Murray into taking to the field, because if he had been taught the Aboriginal Ball Form, like Bentley believed he did, it would be just the thing for destroying the local tar reservoirs.
Fortunately, as they soon discovered, their first task was actually taking care of the Vincinetti goons that had been called in by Octavio, and they also found out that they were eager for battle, as Diz flew through the air and attracted the attention of one of them. Once he had his target's attention he flew back towards the police station, where Carmelita was standing outside the door, ready to unleash the waiting mercenaries that were right behind the door, and when Diz moved into position she knocked on the door and headed towards the ramp that Diz was flying towards. The moment they were both there Diz covered them with his invisibility spell and they faded into the shadows as the first of Judy's guards came outside and engaged the Vincinetti goon that told him to go home, allowing the pair to move to a safe location and watch the fireworks. Not even a few seconds later Judy, hearing the noise of the fight, charged outside with the rest of her task force, who engaged the goon that was right outside the police station and took him out before dispersing throughout the entire city that they were supposed to be working in... all while the gang watched as an Interpol Inspector and her task force cleaned up the streets by taking out each and ever goon that they came across, before Judy congratulated her men as they headed back inside the police station.
Of course Judy also sent Bentley an email, from a secure address that she used to keep in touch with them, and thanked the gang for allowing them to clean up the streets, but even though she didn't say too much in the email the gang could tell that she was happy to be working with such an honorable gang... though after that message came in Bentley, accompanied by Gilda and Derpy, headed out to where Murray would be waiting for them, as Sly had run into him and had told him that someone wanted to see him.
"Sly said you were looking for me? Murray asked, though he patiently waited for both of the girls to land before he spoke up, as he already knew that they wanted his assistance in some manner and he was slightly interested in what that something was, even if he walked a different path in life now.
"That's correct," Bentley said, though at the same time he and the girls stared at Murray's new attire for a couple of seconds, as they hadn't seen it since this was the first time they had encountered their friend since coming to Venice, before Bentley got to the matter at hand, "We need your help to destroy some tar drums."
"I'm done with all that." Murray stated, where he beckoned to himself for a moment or two, before gesturing to the area that was around him, showing that there was a new connection of sorts between him and the environment, or at least that was what Gilda and Derpy assumed, "I've found a new path... it's full of peacefulness."
"Come on, what happened to 'The Murray'?" Gilda asked, as she had enjoyed the violent persona that Murray had created, as he had been very helpful in their previous missions and heists because of all the training he had gone through to reach that point, "The guy who'd get into a fist fight with ten thugs wearing nothing but a towel? The guy who used to punch first and not bother asking questions later? Where's that guy? Where's our old friend?"
"I... I'm sorry." Murray said, though at the same time he turned his full attention towards Bentley for a few seconds, as he was the person that he knew he needed to talk to and, hopefully, put some of this behind him, "Bentley... I... I tried to save you... But, I just wasn't strong enough."
"Murray, it's not your fault this happened to me... Neyla's the one that caused this to happen," Bentley replied, as he and the others knew that Murray, despite the fact that he wasn't to blame for what happened, still blamed himself and went on this spirit quest, "We don't blame you and never have. The only thing we feel bad about is losing our pal."
"Look... I want to help you." Murray stated, where he beckoned to the water that was near them, where the trio could find the black tar stain that they had chosen to stop, especially after they figured out what Octavio's true plan was and the consequences if he wasn't stopped in the near future, "It's just that I promised I'd stay here and 'peacefully' meditate till the black water ran pure."
"Well... what if you could help us peacefully?" Derpy asked, because it seemed like the problem wasn't just the fact that Murray had been sent here by his Guru, but also because he was trying to swear off violence to the best of his abilities, even if it was hard for him to do so, "You wouldn't have to punch anyone."
"I'm in!" Murray declared, to which he raised his fists into the air for a moment, in the style of when he was excited about something, and that brought a smile to the faces of the trio that was standing in front of him, as his tone had instantly reverted back to it's previous state, "Keep it peaceful and I'll smash up anything you'd like!"
"As a student of the Australian Dreamtime, I'm sure you've learned of 'the ball form'?" Bentley inquired, though he was going to have to thank the girls for coming out here with him once this operation was complete, as he was sure that their presence had helped Murray decide on what to do.
"Yeah, sure, like my first week." Murray replied, though at the same time both Gilda and Derpy smiled, as that fit perfectly into the plan that Bentley had created for that technique, as this meant that Murray was likely to have a decent amount of practice with the skill and would be able to use it wouldn't any problems.
"Excellent! Tuck into ball form and clog that vent pipe." Bentley said, to which he gestured to the nearby pipe in question, which they had been standing near for this very reason, before he turned towards Murray, "The pressure build up should shoot you skyward. Maintain your ball form and smash into the six tar drums around town... Gilda and Derpy will make sure you know where they're located."
Murray seemed happy to be of some help to them, even declaring that his Guru would be okay with him using his teachings in such a way, before he tucked into his ball form and rolled into the pipe, where it shot him into the air and the sisters flew around to make sure that he knew where each of the targets were located. As the two of them guided Murray to his targets, since he had left his binocucom with the rest of his gear when he left the gang, they both noticed that their friend went out of his way to avoid drawing attention to himself and avoided doing damage to the guards that were in the areas that the tar drums were located in. When the noise he was making drew too much attention he slipped out of his ball form and hid for a few moments, allowing the girls to observe their foes until it was safe for him to move again, and then he was on his way once more, bouncing off the ground and smashing the tar drums that Bentley wanted him to smash apart. It took about ten minutes for Murray and the girls to smash through the targets, even with hiding for a few seconds, but in the end he was able to fulfill the mission Bentley had asked of him and, sadly, he had to go back to his meditation while he waited for the water to be purified.
Once the two of them returned to the safe house, and informed the gang of Murray's success, Bentley had them follow him towards a store that sold fireworks, especially ones for Carnival, and revealed that it was his base of operations for the next mission, taking out all of Octavio's signs. Clockwerk flew along with them, just in case there was something that they needed help with, though both Derpy and Gilda knew that the ancient owl preferred to spend his time around Bentley, because he had to see him as a friend and not someone that was as smart as he was. When they arrived the girls found that the two geniuses had cobbled together some powerful explosives, one to take care of the nearby anchor and a second one to take care of one that was near the clock tower, and that all included a third explosive to take out the sign on the tower itself, in case neither of the girls wanted to expand their energy and smash it themselves. The instant they arrived at their destination Derpy was the first one to receive an explosive, where she opened her wings and carried it over to the anchor that was her target, which she destroyed seconds later and sent the balloon that was attached to it... to which she landed on a roof top to watch it sore into the air before tearing itself apart, though she didn't head back to the shop as Gilda flew out carrying the second charge.
Bentley's plan was to use the gases inside the balloon to burn down the sign on the clock tower, which was why he gave that one to Gilda, since she could control the wind and was able to make sure the breeze that Bentley wanted was still flowing when the balloon made contact, burning away the sign while not even harming the tower itself, which would have reflected poorly on them if Judy or the task force caught them burning a tower down. Of course that was followed by the sound of someone attacking the door of the stand that Bentley had taken over, though as the sisters flew back to help him out, however, they heard the sound of Clockwerk screeching and Octavio, apparently not liking the sound at all, was seen running away from the stand, where the sisters found that Bentley was safe and Clockwerk was staring at the door that their target had tried to break down.
"What happened here?" Gilda asked, as while she could guess what had happened here, based on the mess that was around them and the fact that Octavio had fled from the scene, she and Derpy were interested in hearing what actually occurred before they went back to the safe house.
Octavio tried to kidnap Bentley while you two were gone, as he thought it was only the three of you, Clockwerk replied, as it had been a long time since he had intentionally driven someone off like that, especially someone that had been his target, but he knew that they'd get Octavio soon enough, The screech you heard, and didn't run away from, is something I developed after watching one of Sly's ancestors, one that used an opera house as his base of operations, and intended to use to stun him during my plot to bring him down, though, as you no doubt know, his ancestor foiled me and I was sent back to the drawing board. For someone like Octavio the screech made him back off and run away, though he knows that we're here and he's waiting for us to do something... so we'll have to be extra careful when it comes time for us to pull off the operation.
Gilda and Derpy smiled, as saving one of Sly's friends from their foe was another step in the right direction, as they were definitely convinced that he was changing for the better, though at the same time they had to wonder what would have to happen for Sly to start trusting the owl... but they pushed that to the back of their minds as they headed back to the safe house, as there was one more thing they needed to do before they started the operation, and they were sure that everyone was eager to bring an end to Octavio's terrible schemes.
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.
Once their task in Venice was over, and they were done relaxing as they waited for the tar to disappear and return the water to normal, the gang returned to Paris immediately and returned to their hideout, allowing Murray to settle back into his old role in the gang once more. During that time everyone wanted to make sure that Murray felt like he had never left and that they had known that he would return at some point, and he seemed pretty happy when they had some actual fun around Paris as normal civilians, and he had even more fun when he, Sly, and some of the others played some games together just to unwind from their Venice adventure. Bentley even took some time off from studying the blueprints of Kaine Island and joined them, as he wanted to make sure that Murray knew that he didn't blame him and that everything was fine, which, as it turned out, didn't even ruin the mood at all, though Clockwerk, on the other hand, joined them from time time to, but preferred to continue his tinkering since there was a change that Murray might be upset that it was because of his own body that Bentley had gotten hurt.
Even Jean Bison, the keeper of Murray's van, found out that he was back on the team and used his newly modified trains to personally move the van to Paris, which took some doing and some money that he was more than willing to spend, which pleased Murray when he found that his van was exactly like he remembered it, despite a few upgrades that had been added to make it up to date for their future adventures.
It wasn't long before the gang started to notice that Murray's heart just wasn't into it, as he seemed to be lost in thought at times and seemed conflicted about something, though it was Diz, who worked with him the most back when they were chasing after the Klaww Gang, who got the information that they needed. Without his Guru's permission to give up on his Dreamtime training, or even stop for a period of time, he'd never really feel comfortable returning to the gang and taking up his old position, which told them exactly what they needed to do next. It was clear that what he needed was a conversation with his Guru, so the two of them could come to an understanding and see if Murray was able to be released from his training, or have it be put on hold, and the gang prepared themselves by packing up their gear, whipped up some quick disguises, and headed for the the airport so they could head to the Australian Outback. Of course the airport itself posed a serious threat for Clockwerk, as he couldn't actually get through some of the machines without his internal weapons giving him away, but he was able to use the vents to bypass those security features... though the only thing that he disliked was the fact that he wouldn't be able to talk much and would be pretending to be a normal robotic owl that Bentley had created.
As the airplane made it's way towards their destination, and the gang settled in for the trip, Murray told them story after story about his teacher's amazing abilities and that he was capable of performing fantastic feats, such as using the Dreamtime to blend perfectly into his surroundings and even gain mental control over the weak minded. The gang agreed that they just had to meet the Guru, because Bentley's statement that the gang needed to grow it's ranks for a chance to get inside the Cooper Vault continued to ring in their ears, and this Guru, an outback mystic, was looking like the best recruit they could have ever asked for at the moment. Murray actually seemed delighted about the fact that Sly and the others wanted to see if his Guru would join them for some time, just to help them in getting into the vault and whatever else they might need to add additional members to the gang, and he continued to smile as they got off the airplane and he led them to the area that his Guru called home, while stopping once so they could switch out of their disguises and put on their normal attire once more.
When the gang finally arrived in the part of the Outback that Murray had been leading them to, however, they were in for quite a shock when they discovered that things had changed since Murray was last here and, as they scanned the immediate area, they found that the Guru was nowhere to be seen... though that didn't stop them from taking control of a watchtower that was nearby and setting up their base of operations there, so they could begin their mission and see if they couldn't unravel the mystery of what happened.
"Guys, before we get started there's something that we felt that we should tell you," Gilda spoke up, knowing that time was of the essence at the moment, but at the same time she needed to tell the others what she, Derpy, and Diz had discovered the moment they walked out into this area of the Outback, as all three of them had felt something that caused them to stop using magic for the moment... especially Diz, who was sweating a little at the moment, and not from the heat that was in the air around them.
"And that would be?" Bentley inquired, because his experience with the girls and Diz had told him that he needed to pay attention when one of them mentioned that they had something they needed to say about a specific area, especially a place like the Outback.
"There's a strong, primal presence in this area," Derpy replied, as she, Gilda, and Diz could feel the primal power of the Outback all around them, though they weren't sure if they were in danger or if the power was studying them until it figured out what they were doing here, "the three of us have decided that, for the time being, that we'll refrain from using magic, at least until we figure out what's going on with the area. Maybe the Guru could assist us in some manner, once we find and rescue him anyway."
"Then we should get going," Sly said, though at the same time it was only him and Carmelita that walked outside the safe house they had established, as while it would have been beneficial for them to have Gilda, Derpy, and Diz fly around the area, to search for information, there was a helicopter flying around the place and it could easily ruin their operation if it spotted one of them in the air.
"The miners have really torn this place up looking for opals." Bentley commented, speaking to the two of them by their binoucoms for a moment, while at the same time giving the same warning to the rest of the gang, making this operation just like the one in Venice, "Watch your step! They're sure to get rough defending their claim."
Sly and Carmelita looked around the area that they were in, as the guards that were patrolling this mine appeared to be ready for battle, while also noticing that they appeared to be mostly kangaroos and dingoes this time around, before they made their way over to the roof of the nearby building, where they could figure out what Murray knew and where they had to go from here.
"My master spends most of his time up there in that cave, overlooking the valley and contemplating the depths of deepness." Murray told them, as they were looking at the very area that he had pointed out to them, which appeared to be a small cave with some cloth that had been covering the entrance, "I really appreciate you guys breaking the news to him that I wanna break off my training."
"No problem Murray, we're looking forward to meeting him." Carmelita replied, because she and Sly were thinking the same thing, as they had agreed on this back on the airplane and their opinions on the matter hadn't changed since they arrived in the area, "Anybody you call 'Master' must be heck of a guy."
"Oh, he's awesome!" Murray declared, once more showing his earlier excitement when he had been talking about all the strange things that his Guru had done, along with all the things that Murray knew and didn't want to talk about until they were reunited, "He'll get inside your head and freak you out six ways from Sunday."
"Uh, awesome!" Sly said, as he was sure that he didn't want the Guru to do that, otherwise he'd never be able to see what was inside his family vault, before he focused on the mission at hand as both he and Carmelita put away their devices and got moving as they searched for a way to get up tot he cave entrance.
The path to get over to the cave entrance involved the two of the jumping over to a pole that went to a walkway that had been carved into the rock wall, climb up it and a sort of thin tree that was in the process of dying, before using the swinging hooks that were in front of them, and the various points they could land on, to reach their destination without wasting too much time... but, as they arrived at the entrance of the cave, they found that there was no one there, which told them some things about what was going on here.
"Sorry pal, this cave's empty." Sly commented, though as he pulled away from the cave both he and Carmelita looked out at the area that was around them, along with the various other interesting structures that were scattered around the mining camp, including the large truck that was resting nearby, "Got any other ideas where he might be?"
"Well, that's his hut," Murray replied, where Bentley assisted him in moving their binocucoms to where the small structure was located, which would seem like a long walk to most people, but for a Cooper this place was actually not too bad to practice a few skills here and there, "but he doesn't really hang out there on... account of the smell."
"The smell?" Carmelita inquired, though if the smell was the reason that the Guru didn't hang out at his hut she could understand it, especially since they had asked Murray to shower after he reunited with them, which had taken a good amount of time to clear up before he was ready to go.
"It's a long story... I had to apologize up and down for like a month before he'd speak to me again." Murray replied, though at the same time the look on his face told both Sly and Carmelita that it was definitely a long story and, since he was more worried about his Guru, they should focus on the mission at hand.
"Well, that's a story for another time," Sly said, knowing that Murray would do everything in his power to prevent them from hearing what he knew, and neither he and Carmelita actually wanted to hear what sort of story he was keeping from them, which was why they were getting ready to move, "for now, we're headed for the hut."
Not even a few seconds later the two of them jumped down from where the cave was located and used the Spire Jump technique to land on top of the lone drills that were resting in the area below them, which they would be targeting at some point in time, before they jumped across the poles that were in front of them and headed back towards the safe house. It wasn't long before they found some wall hooks that happened to be attached to the rock walls that were near the Guru's hut, to which Sly let Carmelita go first and followed after her when she cleared the first wall hook, to which the two of them made their way over the few obstacles that were in front of them and continued on their way towards the second location that Murray wanted them to investigate. When they arrived at their destination a few seconds later they found that, while there was a fire going some distance from the entrance of the hut, there was no one in the immediate area and both of them nodded when they glanced at each other for a moment, as they were coming to the same conclusion about what was going on.
"Sorry Murray, nobody's home," Sly said, letting Murray know what was going on at the moment, along with the rest of the gang for that matter, while at the same time he and Carmelita continued to look at the area to be sure that they weren't missing anything before they left the area, "and by the looks of it, I'd say the Guru was fighting someone or something off here. I'm starting to think the miners might've got to him."
"You may be right." Murry said, showing that he was concerned for his Guru and that he knew exactly what the miners would say if they came and fought his Guru, especially if they surprised him, "They'd come in and be all angry and yelling, and he'd be all peaceful, and they'd just get ticked. Then he'd try to find a middle way, and they'd just go crazy and smash everything up, and then haul him off!"
"Where do you think they might've taken him?" Carmelita asked, as she was sure that there had to be a few areas around the camp that the miners could have converted into a makeshift prison of sorts, the challenge was finding where those areas were located and checking them out.
"They got him! My master's a goner!" Murry exclaimed, revealing that he was letting his concern for his Guru get the better of him at the moment, even though the gang knew that he meant well and was genuinely worried for the person that had been his teacher since he left to find his inner peace.
"Hmm, maybe we should get Bentley on the line." Sly said, to which Carmelita nodded her agreement, as she didn't mean to upset Murry in such a way, but at the same time they were relieved to see Bentley take over for Murray, who appeared to be walking out of the view of the binocucom so they could spend a few seconds speaking with Bentley.
"It's tough to say where they would have taken him, but..." Bentley replied, shifting their gaze to across the camp that was in front of them once more, where they found a fenced in area that might hold some positive results for them, "given the layout of the miners camp, I'd venture a guess that they use that area with a high fence as a makeshift stockade."
"Looks like there might be a way up using that cliff below." Carmelita said, pointing to the path that she had spotted while Bentley was talking, where it was Sly's turn to nod his understanding, as he could see what she was talking about rather easily, "Shouldn't be a problem for the two of us."
"Just keep an eye out for that gyrocopter." Bentley added, though this time around both Sly and Carmelita glanced at the helicopter once more as it flew around the area that was the miners camp, no doubt looking out for enemies that might endanger the miners attempts to gather opals, "I'm positive it's what gave away the Guru's position."
The moment they were done talking to Bentley, and they had put away their binocucoms, both Sly and Carmelita jumped down into the area below them, making sure to safely land as they did so, before they started sneaking their way through the camp that was in front of them. As they did that Bentley continued to talk in their ears, saying that the miners had no respect for the Aboriginal sacred sights, though that was because they were currently drilling into everything that was around them; Ayers Rock, Kings Canyon, and Wave Rock to name a few, and he said that the cultural insensitivity was sickening. Fortunately, as the two of them soon discovered, Carmelita's guess that this place wouldn't be much of a challenge for them proved to be accurate, as they were able to get over the various machines that were tearing into the landscape, used the hooks to their advantage, and used some wall hooks to get up to the roof that was able the stockade that the miners had built after their arrival. From there Sly and Carmelita dropped down into the area below them, where they found a small purple koala, who was wearing a red bandanna and brown loincloth, with a purple beard that had two braids wrapped in blue strips of cloth, along with some yellow face paint across his nose and under his eyes... though both of them knew that this had to be Murray's Guru.
"You must be the Guru." Sly said, though as they approached the stockade they found that the Guru was standing near the front gate and seemed to be studying them, as if he was judging them before saying anything, "We're good friends of Murray's. He's come asking to be released from his training."
The Guru replied in what Sly and Carmelita guessed was his native dialect, as he was talking fast at the same time, but one thing they discovered was that, through some unknown means, the Guru was projecting the meaning of his words directly into their heads and they both got the sense that he couldn't come to a decision regarding Murray's request without having a face-to-face meeting with him.
"Sure, that's no problem at all," Carmelita replied, as that was the whole reason they had come to the Outback in the first place, to make sure that Murray and his Guru had a talk with each other in regards to his training, "We'll just bust you out of here and we'll go talk to..."
It was in that moment that the Guru spoke to them again, though this time they were shown images of two very important artifacts, a staff and a moonstone, along with his instance that he would remain here until he had them returned to him, revealing that they were, in the terms that Carmelita had recently learned, his 'gear'.
"You... seriously won't leave without your gear?" Sly asked, though he remembered back when they were first chasing after Clockwerk and he had lost his own cane because of a robotic falcon he had hit, only for Carmelita to assist him in retrieving it by blasting anything that moved as he ran for his family cane.
What the Guru revealed to them next slightly caught them off guard, as he gave them a warning of the damage and corruption of the land, the danger that such things posed to the gang if they were caught off guard, and a need for someone, as it could be him or someone else, to purify it before anything else happened. All this was accompanied by an image of himself purifying the corrupted land with Gilda, Derpy, and Diz by his side, though oddly enough Diz happened to be a girl in the image that the Guru showed them, despite the fact that he was in his male form when they left the safe house to find where the miners had taken him.
"You already knew about the others?" Carmelita asked, though at this point she was starting to wonder if the Guru had seen their coming long before the miners had arrived and simply did what his visions had shown him, but at the same time she decided that she was better off not knowing the truth.
The Guru revealed that he had used his own teachings, the ones that allowed him to see what was happening in the world to send Murry on his spirit quests, on himself from time to time, to check and see if something was going to change and how he could prepare for such change. Despite the fact that he had seen their coming some time ago, and had all this time to prepare himself, he still got captured by the miners, to which he insisted that the miners be cleared out of the area, so that way he could use his powers again, while also warning them of something called the Mask of Dark Earth, which seemed to be some sort of powerful magical mask that he and those that had come before him had been watching for a really long time. The image and warning came with a sense of evil, suggesting that the Mask needed to be destroyed, and they also felt a sense that the Mask embodied the aspects of Destruction, Death, and Darkness, though at the same time both Sly and Carmelita sensed that the artifact that was supposed to balance the land, and embodied the aspects of Creation, Life, and Light, was missing.
"Yeah, that's something that we'll have to take care of." Sly said, though he didn't have much to say on that statement, as hearing that there was a powerful Mask running around the area, or floating or whatever happened when a mask traveled, explained why his siblings had said that they weren't going to use their magic for some time, but he wondered if they knew about the Mask, "As for your walking staff and moonstone, don't worry about them, as the two of us and the rest of our gang will make sure that we get them back and return them to you as swiftly as possible."
As the two of them made their way out of the area that they were in, however, both Sly and Carmelita got one last message of sorts from the Guru, as he wanted to meet with both Bentley and Murray at some point in time as well, though assured them that he'd meet Gilda, Derpy, and Diz when he made his escape. When they returned to the safe house they discovered that Bentley, having listened to what they said in response to what the Guru had showed them and made reminded them of his earlier observations, informed them that the first thing they needed to do was have Murray visit his mentor first, as he was sure that Murray would find a way to allow him to reach the stockade. While that happened Bentley said that Sly and Carmelita would find the staff and the moonstone, while Gilda and Derpy went out to purify Ayers Rock by using the nearby big truck, where, when they were done with that task, he would collect the artifacts and free the Guru from his prison... and then they could begin their planning for dealing with the Mask of Dark Earth, as he was sure that their new friend had information on it to give them once he was free.
Murray, upon hearing that, immediately set out for the cave that would allow him to meet up with his Guru, though at the same time Gilda, Derpy, and Diz decided to head out for the big truck that was nearby, so they could deal with the miners that were at Ayers Rock.
As Murray headed toward the cave that would allow him to meet his Guru once more, and figure out what he wanted to say before he was freed from the area, Gilda, Derpy, and Diz made their way through the camp and sneaked around the guards that were in the area. With the helicopter still a threat, as it could easily see them if they were flying around the place, the three of them had agreed to simply work like ordinary thieves again until such a thing was no longer necessary, not that they had any idea how long it would be before they could fly again. At the same time they helped themselves to the loot that was in the pockets of the guards that they walked by, picking a few pieces of treasure in the process, which would go to their overall haul and potentially be sold when they needed to cover their expenses, something that Bentley knew more about than they did. Fortunately the guards in the area didn't seem to notice that they were in the area, or the fact that they had their treasures taken from their pockets, allowing them to make their way to where the massive truck was located, making the three of them wonder why the miners needed a truck of this size.
After a few minutes the three of them finally reached the truck and stood on it for a moment, observing the top of the truck as they continued to wonder why such a machine was needed by the miners, before they decided that now wasn't the time for them to be doing this.
"Okay, let's motor out to Ayers Rock and scare away those mining dingoes." Gilda said, as they already knew what Bentley had told them, based on what Sly had learned from the Guru, and she found that the others were nodding their agreement to her words, "The Guru wants it 'purified'."
"This is going to be awesome!" Diz replied, as he liked the size of the machine that they were standing on, while at the same time he knew that Murray would have liked to be on this mission, but since the Mask of Dark Earth was at large they had to work fast and do multiple things at the same time, "This is, quite possibly, the biggest truck that one of us is ever going to drive... and I'm pretty sure this could crush houses with ease."
Diz climbed into the control part of the truck and got it moving towards the position that Bentley had sent to them, showing them the way to Ayers Rock in the process, while at the same time letting Gilda and Derpy take to the skies as they got far enough away from where the helicopter was located. It seemed like Diz was more than happy to show off the driving skills that he had picked up from Murray, since they had gone on a lot of jobs together before their friend separated from the gang a year ago, and his sisters were more than happy to let him have his fun as they headed to Ayers Rock, so they could see what they were working with. It didn't take them long to reach the area in question, while at the same time allowing Diz to drive the big truck over a rock like ramp that had been carved into the area, before Diz pulled up beside the drill that was in the middle of Ayers Rock, something that they were going to have to destroy in some manner once the miners had been dealt with. Gilda and Derpy landed on the top of the truck as they surveyed what was in front of them, as there happened to be four guards standing around the controls that were in front of them, but at the same time that was nothing compared to what they could do... with or without their magic.
"I have an idea of how we might drive the miners out of Ayers Rock." Bentley informed them, as he was currently speaking to them, Murray, and both Sly and Carmelita, as it would be some time before he was required to talk with the Guru, which was after they finished their mission, "But for my plan to work we'll need to force the drill on this rig deeper into the ground."
"Okay Bentley, you've got our interest." Gilda replied, though at the same time she looked at the guards that, for some strange reason, hadn't noticed that they weren't alone at the moment, as they were staring off into space and seemed unaware of the big truck's arrival, "Though it looks like Derpy and I may have to take care of a few guards if we're going to get at those drill controls."
"Defeat the guards and start the drill, then Diz can begin phase two of my plan." Bentley told them, though at the same time they still had no idea what phase two was supposed to be, as that wasn't something that he had shared with them when they were back at the safe house.
Gilda and Derpy immediately got to work the moment Bentley informed them of what they needed to do, though the reality of the situation was that it was rather easy for them to defeat the four guards that were standing in their way and activate the drill controls, which started the drill up once more.
"Nice work you two." Bentley said, revealing that he was pleased that things were going well so far, before he started addressing all three of them, so they all knew the plan that they were following, "The sonic vibrations caused by that drill should drive the giant scorpions in the area to the surface. If we can capture a bunch of red soldier scorpions, releasing them into Ayers Rock is sure to push out the miners."
"Okay, that doesn't sound too hard." Diz replied, to which he looked out of the window of the truck and found both red and blue scorpions rising to the surface, though that was before a question came to his mind, "One question though... how do we capture scorpions with a truck?"
"The vehicle is equipped with a super-charged e-brake which, if pulled when moving, will cause a forward flip." Bentley explained, revealing that he had done some research on the truck in question and had prepared a statement for them when this question came up, showing that he had thought ahead of them once more, "Time it correctly and you'll trap a scorpion in the mining nests built into the bed of the truck. Oh, and the truck's tires will heat up quickly in this blazing hot sand, so you'll have to cool them down by driving into the water or running over scorpions. Watch your heat meter to make sure they don't melt. And remember, we're only interested in the red soldier scorpions. The blue worker scorpions won't help us scare the miners off."
Diz stared at the controls for a minute, making sure he remembered everything that he had been told, before nodding his head as he got the big truck moving, allowing Gilda and Derpy to remain on the drill platform as they watched him go to town on chasing down the scorpions they needed. It wasn't long before Diz caught the first of the twenty scorpions that Bentley said that they needed for this mission to be a success, and they could tell that he was having fun in the truck since he flipped it over, caught a scorpion, and then flipped it in a manner that made it do a complete three hundred and sixty degree flip. Unfortunately it wasn't meant to last, as the moment Diz caught the eighth scorpion Bentley revealed that his sensors were showing a drop off in underground movement, meaning that they were going to have to drill deeper to keep the scorpions coming out, which fell onto either Gilda or Derpy to do since the controls were at the top of the drill and they could easily reach it with their wings. Derpy, deciding to be the one to accomplish this mission, opened her wings for a few seconds and flew up to where the other controls were located, though it took her just a moment to flip them and increase the drill's depth.
For a moment it seemed like Bentley's idea was working, until the deeper hole they had dug accidentally drained the water around the tower, meaning that Diz was going to have to rely on squishing scorpions to keep the truck's tires cool from here on out.
Diz, in reality, wasn't too bothered by the sudden change and continued driving the truck around the area that they happened to be in, squishing many of the blue scorpions as he could while he focused on capturing seventeen more red soldier scorpions so the mission would be complete. At the same time both Gilda and Derpy observed his actions and pointed out the locations of some of the other scorpions that he might want to go after, assisting him in finding his targets and letting him flip over to capture them, adding them to the growing stockpile that he was currently collecting. When at last he had the twenty red soldier scorpions that Bentley required for the mission Diz put the truck in reverse and headed right up to the mine's entrance, where he dumped the scorpions out and let them to their thing, all while he and the others started to make their way out of the area, but not before watching the miners run around as the red scorpions started mowing them down. One of the actual guards, that was supposed to watch out for things like this, called for his mates to run for their lives and many of the miners actually ran the moment he said that, only for the others to pause in the tracks when one of the scorpions slew the guard in question, allowing some of the other scorpions to repeat the process on some of the miners.
Gilda, Derpy, and Diz remained there for a moment, making sure that the scorpions were clearing Ayers Rock of miners, though when their task was complete they returned to the big truck and headed back to the camp that the others were currently working on, knowing that the Guru would be pleased by their actions.
Sly and Carmelita moved out of the safe house a few minutes after Gilda, Derpy, Diz, and Murray did, as there happened to be a few things that Bentley needed to check before he gave them their mission location, but once that was in hand the two of them headed out and made their way to a rock formation that rested near a cave entrance. They noticed that some of the miners were being more careful all of a sudden, meaning that the fact that the big truck had been taken, by people that didn't work with the rest of them, had spooked them a little, even though they both knew that it would be returned once the others completed their mission. Despite the increase in security, even if it was by a tiny amount, the two of them were able to reach their destination with ease and soon found themselves looking around as they raised their binocucoms, as they were interested in hearing what Bentley had to tell them.
"After capturing the Guru, the dingoes confiscated his magic walking staff and moonstone." Bentley reminded them, as he just wanted to take a moment to remind them what they were going in this area, though he had the feeling that they actually didn't need the reminder in the first place, "Without these objects, the Guru is powerless."
"Given that we're dealing with miners, I'd bet they stashed the goods in one of the caves around here." Carmelita said, as that was the logical choice to make, but since there happened to be a magical mask involved in this situation it might be possible that the location of the Guru's gear was somewhere else, "These caves would be a secure location with plenty of guys on duty to provide protection."
"I agree, and the most likely candidate is this mine shaft." Bentley replied, to which both Sly and Carmelita found themselves looking at the very mine entrance that they had been sent near when he told them where the starting area for the mission was located, "It appears to have the higher number of workers coming in and out."
"That sounds like a good place to start." Sly stated, because larger numbers did tend to mean that there was usually something interesting at the end of the line, something that had been written into the family tome and experienced a few times when he and the others were still learning the ropes, "We're on it."
The moment Sly said that both he and Carmelita dropped down from where they were standing, patiently waited for the dingoes in front of them to move out of the way, while stealing the treasure in their pockets, before climbing up to where the cave entrance was located and slipped inside. When they walked through the door, and actually entered the cave itself, the two of them found that their path had a number of spinning drills, vertical, horizontal, and spinner types in front of them, and, as it turned out, all they had to do to get through the first trio of drills was wait for a few seconds, jump onto the support structure for them, and then ride them to the next drill. Once they were through those obstacles they found a single guard blocking their path, who was easy to take out, before they used the wall hooks to get up to a point below a walkway, where they accessed the still points of the drills that passed by them to get up above where they happened to be standing. Of course they decided to ignore the pair of guards that the drills allowed them to pass by, as it wasn't worth the effort to knock out guards that couldn't see them, and that allowed them to reach a walkway that brought them to the end of the cave, where they spotted a safe that was guarded by a section of floor lasers... which was nothing compared to them and the training they had gone through to reach this point in their careers as thieves.
When they reached the safe Sly knelt beside it for a moment and started turning the handle as he felt for the tumblers that were inside the container, making sure to turn it when he reached one of them, before he smiled as he pulled the lever and opened the safe, revealing the purple colored Moonstone that was so important.
"Time to take you back to your rightful owner." Sly commented, though as Carmelita nodded her head they both noticed that there was something that was attached to the side of the magical stone, something that would complicate things a little, "These miners are smarter than they look. They've booby-trapped the Moonstone!"
"That looks like a light-sensitive detonator." Carmelita added, recognizing the technology from a few of the cases she had worked on, as she had spent a few moments studying the type of technology and knew something about it, before she looked at Sly, "If we can get it outside and into the sunlight, it should power down."
Sly nodded his understanding, as he knew that either Carmelita knew something about it or Bentley would have chimed in if she was wrong, but since Bentley didn't do that he turned around and they headed back through the path they had used to reach that point. After bypassing the lasers they turned to the right and continued down a slightly different path than the one they used to reach the safe, where they ignored the confused miners that ran towards them, and were distracted by the smoke bomb that Carmelita deployed in the process, before they used some points to drop down to where the first trio of drills was located. From there it was a simple matter to descend back to where the drills were located, which had stalled for some strange reason, and then jumped over to where the entrance rested, allowing them to head outside and deactivate the detonator that was on the Moonstone, which Carmelita removed once they stepped out of the cave.
Once that was done, and they were sure that the first of the two treasures was secure, Sly opened a link to Bentley to see if he knew where the other half of the Guru's gear was located, while at the same time Carmelita looked around for any guards while they did that.
"The Guru's walking staff must be hidden in their other cave complex." Bentley informed them, knowing exactly what Sly was going to ask before he said a single word and had prepared himself accordingly, while at the same time knowing that Gilda, Derpy, and Diz were on their way back, "I've marked the entrance in your binocucom."
What they discovered was that the entrance to the second cave was close to where the Guru was being held, so much so that both of them spotted the jump pad that Murray must have knocked out of the way, thus giving Bentley a chance to get up there when he was ready, though when they headed inside they found that the Moonstone glowed a little. The cave itself was darker than the first one, which was a little odd, but at the same time it appeared that the treasure they had already recovered seemed to be of use to them in this moment, so Sly, with the stone attached to his belt by a special harness that Bentley had quickly made, lead the way as Carmelita followed after him. What they had to do was ride a rail up to a destroyed walkway and then use the series of hooks to ride their way to another walkway, where they discovered the safe containing the Walking Staff, where Carmelita took a turn and repeated the process that Sly had gone through with the first safe. Not even a few seconds later she pulled open the safe door and pulled out the Walking Staff, which was just as tall, if not a little taller, than the Guru was, something that they stared at for a few seconds before they decided to get underway and get out of here.
"I wonder what's so special about this staff..." Sly commented, but, at the same time, he remembered what his siblings had done to their canes and knew that sometimes looks could be deceiving, before Carmelita pointed at a very familiar device, while they also heard some noises coming from the path they had to take, "Another booby-trap, for a stick? These guys are paranoid! And from the sound of it, they've called in reinforcements. Nothing like a horde of angry dingoes to make things a bit more interesting."
This time around smoke bombs wouldn't be able to cut it, so the two of them dodged the incoming attacks from the kangaroo miners, made sure to avoid the whips of the dingo guards, and paid close attention to the path that they had to follow, as it was long and designed to slow people down if they were stealing the treasure from the safe. The miners were quick to attack them to the best of their ability, missing them as they dodged their attacks, though all of the enemies that came out to attack them ended up failing in their mission to stop them as Sly and Carmelita reached the end of the path they had been following and slipped outside, deactivating another detonator and securing the Walking Staff. The moment the two treasures were secure they returned to the safe house and waited for Gilda, Derpy, and Diz to return, though when they did Bentley collected the Moonstone and the Walking Staff before heading out to tell the Guru that it was time for him to make his escape. After a couple of minutes they heard Bentley talking to the Guru as he returned both of his treasures to him, and then they heard the sounds of the Guru making his escape by taking direct control over a guard and smashing down the gate that had been in front of his holding area.
From there the rest of the gang listened as Bentley suggested a couple of things to the Guru, who used some guards to smash through some drills near the first area that Sly and Carmelita checked when they were looking for him, and then he rammed three more guards into a generator for the machine that was cutting into Wave Rock, before making his way over to the safe house.
Gilda, Derpy, and Diz were pleased to meet the Guru, who spoke to them in the same manner that he did when Sly and Carmelita came to the stockade the miners had created, and it was clear to them that he was studying the powers they all possessed and made several temporary enchantments that would protect them from the 'Rage of the Earth'. Upon finding that Diz controlled a 'Primal Force', referring to the Chaos energies he used, the Guru decided to double the load of enchantments, to ease Diz's pain while he sought out a way to stop him from being so exposed to the power that was all around them. To do all that he actually needed a very special ingredient that, when used with the Dreamtime powers that he had mastered, wouldn't poison whoever was near it and would keep Diz from looking like he was fighting a losing battle with something, when applied with the correct enchantments anyway. Bentley was surprised to find that it was the same radioactive oil that he had been keeping an eye on, as the miners had found it and were currently mining what had to be the same store that he pulled the ingredient from, and immediately stated that Sly and Murray would be the best ones suited for taking care of that... though he wasn't expecting Clockwerk to sign himself up for it as well.
Other than that the rest of Bentley's plan involved attacking the miners, both with nature and at the place where they hung out, though they all agreed that they might as well help the Guru with his enchantments before they did anything else, to which Sly, Murray, and Clockwerk headed out immediately... and, thanks to the ancient owl, they were able to find the mission area in no time.
When they arrived at their destination, after passing through a tunnel system that the miners had built to reach the miners were trying to collect, Murray put a hardhat on and immediately started pumping his arms on one of the machines that was near him, as that would cause the oil to flow. Sly and Clockwerk, despite their differences, worked together to dispose of the miners that happened to be guarding the area and made sure that Murray was kept safe, which was easy to do since one of them could keep an eye on the left side of the oilfield and the other could do the same on the right side. As such they made it impossible for the miners to get close to Murray, who pumped away at the machine that he was working on, and eventually he was able to get the three wells that were tied to this machine puking up what the Guru wanted, only Bentley wanted to ensure that they stopped coming back here. Once those three were up Sly picked up Murray with the claw machine that he was using and moved them over to the second area, where Clockwerk followed after them and sat down once they were in position once more, allowing them to start defending the area while Murray worked on pumping the machine.
It wasn't long before Murray had the second pair of wells up an running as well, allowing them to move to a third area where they launched rocks at the wells and set them on fire, which, as Bentley explained, would draw what they needed to the surface, though as that happened Clockwerk flew into the area, grabbed as much of the ingredient that the Guru requested, and then locked it inside his body for now, just as he, Sly, and Murray headed back to the safe house.
When the three of them returned to the safe house Clockwerk opened the compartment that he stored the ingredient in and handed it to the Guru, who immediately got to work using the Dreamtime to purify the oil and wove the enchantments into the liquid. Once he had reached the point where the oil was ready, and the threat of the poison was eliminated, he took a moment to inscribe some markings on Diz, then on Gilda, and then on Derpy, before returning to Diz to put the second layer on so he could resist the powers that were around them. By the time he was done with what he needed to do, and was sure that the enchantments would hold until they either purified or destroyed the Mask of Dark Earth, he moved to the side and let the three of them exercise their powers once more, where the wind wrappedaround Gilda for a moment, the sky crackled as Derpy thought about it, and Diz, for some reason, turned a cloud pink and had it spill a few drops of what looked like chocolate milk.
Sly honestly didn't care what Diz did, as he had long sense tried to stop explaining his chaotic powers, because right now this meant that his sisters and his brother were ready to use their powers for the greater good of the Outback, and the miners would never see them coming.
Bentley, upon finding that their magic users were ready to go at long last, and no longer had to fear the power of the Outback thanks to the enchantments that the Guru had put on them, revealed the plan to drive the miners out of the area and restore the peace that the Guru had enjoyed, all while plotting the destruction of the Mask of Dark Earth. The first thing they needed to do was find a way to drive the miners out of the lemonade bar that they had set up when they took control of the area, because driving them out would make it easier for them to strike the fear of the Outback into the superstitious miners, something that they all agreed on because of how the miners locked up the Guru. His original plan, before he found out that the magic users could use their powers again, was to head into the bar, challenge them to a drinking contest to drive them out, and then beat them at their own game, and potentially beat them up as well, since they were going to be sour over losing to a bunch of people that they didn't know. At the same time, however, he wanted Murray and Clockwerk to enlist the aid of the local wildlife to help them scare off the miners, where Murray already had a plan in mind, and then, once the miners were efficiently scared of the Outback, either Clockwerk or the Guru would need to take out the helicopter, just to give them free reign of the sky for the final part of the plan.
The final part of what he had planned, involving the Mask of Dark Earth, was for Gilda, Derpy, and Diz to combine their powers into one singular blast that should destroy it, because if the harmonic power of Derpy's magic was able to purify the Hate Chip, and transform it into something new, then the combination of two harmonic users and one chaos user might be able to terminate the Mask.
Diz, however, had an idea that might assist them in their time of need, as what he did was head out to an area that overlooked the lemonade bar and focused his mind for a moment, before he started channeling his chaotic power into the objects around his target. What happened was that the bottles that had been discarded got up and moved on their own, freaking out one of the dingoes that happened to be outside when the bottle he had finished became animated and started attacking him, along with the rest of the bottles that had been laying around the area. He opened his mind's eye for a moment and looked inside the bar, where he watched as the furnace became animated as well and joined the bottles in their assault, freaking out the miners at the same time, but what really freaked them out was when the drills inside the bar had faces appear on them and detach from where they had been resting, attacking the miners with the rest of the newly animated objects that he was controlling. A smile appeared on his face as he surveyed his work, as the miners, who were clearly afraid of magic based on what they did to the Guru and what they were doing now, eventually ran out of the bar and left it behind... though, at the same time, the furnace decided to burn the bar down before he returned to being a normal furnace, to which Diz just shrugged and decided that letting it burn meant that the miners wouldn't return in the future.
As he turned so he could head back to the safe house, however, he noticed two things, the first being that, despite his usage of his chaotic powers in such a manner, that he hadn't changed forms suddenly, like he did when he expanded a large amount of energy. The second thing was that the Mask of Dark Earth, currently being worn by one of the flashlight carrying dingoes, moved through the area that he was standing in, though one thing he noticed was that the guard was more aggressive than normal and that the guard was slightly larger than normal. He guessed that this was what the Guru was warning them about, that the Mask had powers of it's own and was something that they should be careful around, but, at the same time, it appeared that the Mask hadn't noticed him as it continued it's rounds around the rest of the camp, meaning that it knew that something was coming. He observed the Mask for a few minutes, just to see if it was going to do anything while it was out and about so he could report something back to Bentley, but for the most part it seemed like their target wasn't doing anything interesting, despite the fact that he used his magic a little and conjured a glass that was filled with chocolate milk... something that he sipped on as he watched the Mask, as he was used to his chaotic powers and had long since stopped questioning how he was able to do some of the things he did.
In the back of his mind he thought about saying something about 'where was the fun in making sense', in relation to his chaotic powers and how they affected the world around him, but such a thought only made him chuckle, as it was definitely true in more ways than one, though he kept that to himself and focused on the Mask... who was currently using the poor guard to simply walk around the area, observing the other miners that were either running scared or were continuing their objective, and eventually found that this was boring. While he did that, and kept taps on what the Mask was doing, he had to wonder what the others were doing at that very moment, as he had the feeling that Murray and Clockwerk were having more luck with their mission than he was having with this task he had bestowed upon himself.
Murray and Clockwerk, while some would find the combination odd, worked pretty good together, as the miners were quick to chase the metallic owl towards the area that Murray was standing in, because he found a crocodile that would eagerly assist them once they were through with it. Clockwerk was interested in Murray's plan, as it involved pulling guards to the area that the crocodile was located in and throwing them into the water around the animal, where it would chow down on them until it had a taste for miners, though for the most part it was going to involve the animal eating a few dingoes and kangaroos before they were through with it. His part in this was simply pulling the miners towards the area they would be working in, allowing him a change to watch Murray knock guards into the air, catch them before they hit the ground, and then hurl them towards their target, where the crocodile chowed down on the miners that were being offered to it, though it didn't seem to mind what was going on at the moment. Of course the miners retreated a few seconds later, or rather those that were smart enough to not be in the area anymore did that, and those that remained behind found themselves at the mercy of the crocodile... before Murray went out of his way to go and find a large flashlight guard, only to return a few moments later with his prize, something that had the crocodile's eye the moment he entered the area.
Clockwerk watched as the crocodile chowed down on the offered flashlight guard, exactly like what Murray was planning, before he and Murray moved up to a perch as the Mask wearing guard that Diz was following entered the area, which was when the crocodile pulled itself out of the water and attacked the guard, chowing down on him while the Mask jumped off and fled with it's natural power... meaning that they had succeeded in part of their mission, as this was going to spread some rumors among the miners and they might reconsider being here. At the same time, as both Diz and Murray headed back to the safe house, Clockwerk moved out in search of the helicopter that was flying around the area, though as he did so he made sure to be above the vehicle as he enlarged his body and shifted back into his true terrifying form as he sought out his target. The helicopter had no chance to defend itself as the ancient owl descended upon it, tearing through the propellers that kept it in the air, ripped apart the metal that was keeping the vehicle together, and made sure that the gas container exploded, tearing the rest of the helicopter apart in the process. Once that was done, and he was sure that there were no other machines like it in the area, Clockwerk nodded his head as he shifted back into his smaller form and flew back to the safe house, where he reported his success to the team, as this would influence what the miners did in the next hour.
Many of the miners hightailed it immediately, showing that they were scared for their lives and wanted nothing to do with this place anymore, but, at the same time, there were still some miners left over, and that must have been because of the Mask, or, as the Guru suggested, they lived somewhere nearby and had though this place was an easy target, only to understand that they had been wrong and were in the process of moving away from the area... leaving the Mask behind, with next to no one around for it to latch onto and use against them, meaning that it would be easier for them to take care of it without anything interfering.
"Okay, with the miners taken care of, it's time we make our move against the Mask of Dark Earth." Bentley said, to which the gang turned towards him as he revealed what they were actually going to do this time around, as he had gained some information from the Guru while the others were putting their finishing touches on what they needed to do to drive out the miners, "According to what the Guru told me the Mask is filled with, and feed on, rage, meaning that we need to draw it into an area where Gilda, Derpy, and Diz can combine their powers and destroy it... and there's only one person with a large amount of rage in their heart, despite recent changes."
Me. Clockwerk commented, as it had been his rage and hatred for the Cooper Clan that had driven him to create the body that he currently possessed, and would possess until someone got the better of him and smashed the chip that was the core of his being, I know many of you are angry at one person or another, for your own reasons, but the rage and hatred in my heart, despite being less than they had been when we first fought, are still there and it makes me the perfect target for the Mask to go after. Allow me to lure the Mask out of it's hiding place, then the three of you can use your powers to destroy it.
The gang looked at each other, as it was unusual for Clockwerk to even talk about himself or what he had felt before the core of his being had been replaced, even though this confirmed Sly's thoughts that it would take some time for the hatred to be taken care of, before deciding that, if he was okay with this, they would back him up and make sure the Mask didn't latch onto him in any way. As such the gang, including the Guru, made their way out to the big truck, as it was the best spot for them to be in, and, sure enough, the moment the ancient owl took to the field the Mask was moving once more, seeking out a target to latch onto and bond with, but soon the Mask would find that Clockwerk wasn't easy prey, not after the years he spent hunting the Coopers. Gilda, Derpy, and Diz, all taking to the skies, watched as the Mask charted a path towards Clockwerk, seeking out the dying hatred and rage that the harmony inside of him was slowly taking care of, while Murray got the truck moving and headed out of the area, heading to Ayers Rock for the showdown with the Mask. Oddly enough the Mask didn't seem to care about the camp at all, because it continued to follow Clockwerk right out of the miners camp and never looked back, showing that the group had it right where they wanted it, which caused Murray to grin as they headed towards their destination.
It didn't take them long to reach the area that Murray, with Bentley's approval, had selected as the area for their showdown with the Mask of Dark Earth, though when they arrived he parked the truck and they got a front row seat to the Mask's arrival... where Clockwerk, having backtracked the moment they arrived, loosed a metallic net from one of his cannons and pinned the Mask to the ground, showing that he wasn't to be underestimated.
Now! Clockwerk called out, though at the same time he flew over the area that the Mask was in and landed on the side of the big truck, giving him a good view with the others as they watched Gilda, Derpy, and Diz fly down into the area so they could target the Mask.
Derpy had decided that since the Mask fed off of negative emotions, just like Clockwerk used to do with his Hate Chip until she reformed it with the love and positivity that was in her heart, that she was open herself up to those same emotions when battling the Mask and simply let the magic flow into her for a few seconds, before loosing a stream of her magical energies down at the restrained Mask. As the Mask was hit it seemed to screech as the harmony filled magic touched it, to which it did so again when Gilda, who had been powering herself up the same way that her sister was doing, did the same thing and her magical stream collided with her target as well. That was followed up by Diz loosing his own chaotic magic, tempered by his own positive feelings and the harmony he felt whenever he was with his family, down at the Mask as well, causing the animated object to squirm and screech as they poured their magic into the area surrounding the dark artifact. While all of that happened, and the Guru watched this with the rest of the gang, the clouds happened to move out of the way and revealed the shining moon in all it's glory, though as their magic poured into the area some strands of moonlight broke off from the moon and came down to where they were gathered... only for the Guru to be surprised when the spirit of another koala, with dirty brown colored fur and wearing the ancient garb of a sage, stepped out of the moonlight and approached the restrained Mask with a powerful staff in his right hand.
The Guru had heard stories about the other Sage, as he informed the gang that there had once been two of them until one killed the other in a fit of jealousy, twisting the land into what it was these days, and that his own teacher had told him that he, as well as those that came before him, were supposed to bring balance back... by either recreating the artifact that was destroyed with the other Sage, or destroying the Mask itself.
As that happened the power that the siblings were channeling caused several cracks to form in the Mask of Dark Earth, though at the same time Diz switched his assault and delved into the depth's of the Mask's rage, diving towards the center of everything until he found the faintly glowing center of what it had been before it's power had been used to shatter the other artifact. He smiled as he found what he was looking for, as he knew what he had to do, especially since the shell that was the Mask's form was beginning to break, to which he grabbed hold of the core and withdrew from the depths of the rage, though as he mentally returned to his body he held the spiritual form of the Mask of Dark Earth, while at the same time the actual Mask started to loose it's color. A few seconds later the power that was coursing through the area shattered the Mask in it's entirety, scattering the dull golden fragments like they were nothing, though as that occurred another spirit joined the first one, only for the gang to find out that it was another koala sage, meaning that they must have been quite powerful all those years ago... and Diz, knowing what to do next, handed the spiritual Mask off to the Sage without an artifact, who accepted it and affixed it back to where it belonged.
The ancient spirits of the Outback, now restored in an entirely different manner, were quite pleased with that the three of them had done and so offered them a bit of power to go with what they already had, in the form of glowing stones, an opal for Gilda's wind and a topaz for Derpy's lightning, that could be worn around their necks in the form of a necklace. Diz, on the other hand, had to do something different since his power was one that they could not directly boost, since he controlled Chaos and they the essences of Creation and Destruction for this area, so what the spirits agreed on was gently awakening some of his latent power and bringing that portion to the surface. What actually happened was that Diz doubled over in pain for a moment as his wings, which were slightly smaller versions of Derpy's wings, vibrated for a moment, though while nothing happened to his left wing his right wing transformed into a bat's wing that was the same size as his other wing, complete with the same texture as a bat's wing as well. The only other difference that Gilda and Derpy could tell was that Diz's eyes had become bright red, while at the same time the sclera around them had turned yellow... and, if they were seeing things right, his right pupil was now slightly larger than his left pupil, though it didn't seem like that had any effect on his ability to see.
Before anyone could actually say anything, or question what had happened, the ancient spirits faded back into the spiritual world that the first Sage had been residing in, though now he had company so they could balance the rest of the land until the end of time... leaving the group to their own devices as each of them wondered what they were going to do next, especially after everything that just happened.
"You know, I'm going to have to get used to flying with a bat's wing, cause this is going to throw me off a little," Dix commented, as the only thing he was interested in at the moment was what had happened to his wings, despite the fact that they had brought balance to the Outback while gaining some increase to their own powers, "but, um, what now?"
"Now we rest up before heading back to Paris," Sly said, though at the same time he stopped in front of his brother and laid a hand on his shoulder, because he was still the same person he had been before they drew the Mask out of it's hiding spot, before he looked over at Murray and the Guru for a moment, "besides, we have a new member to welcome into the gang before we leave... and it looks like Murry's already prepared to tell his master all about the stories about us that he hasn't told him so far."
Diz smiled for a moment as he forgot about his own worries for now, as whenever the gang welcomed someone new to the gang it was always a good time, and yet, as they started to head back to the safe house to pack up their things, he had to wonder why he had reacted in such a way to the gift the spirits had given him... and, once more, he had to wonder if he had these powers because of whoever his parents were, before he shelved that thought once more and locked it away, so he could enjoy his time with his family.
Suffice to say that the gang was happy to have another member on board, even if he was going to be partaking in the missions leading up to the assault on Kaine Island, though they did take a moment to enjoy the fact that they had purified the area and driven out the miners. The Guru was happy as well, especially since the curse of the Mask of Dark Earth had been lifted at long last, and he spent some of his time conversing with the Dreamtime Spirits so he could understand what had happened and, when asked by Gilda and Derpy, revealed that the fight had been over some girl. The gang found that things apparently haven't changed since the old days, in terms of what caused friends, who apparently were as tight as brothers, to attack each other, only these days doing something like that tended to land someone in jail, though while there might be more to the story they decided to let him keep it to himself. Despite that fact the gang enjoyed the rest of the time they spent in the Outback, since now they could rest and relax for some time, before the gang headed out with their newest member and headed back to civilization.
Some of the gang worried that getting the Guru through the airports would have been hard, but in reality they were able to get him through all the obstacles that were in their way, onto the plane itself, and then deboarded the plane in the Paris airport without anything happening, to which they headed out and started the trek back to their main hideout so they could rest and continue what they had been doing before they headed out for the Outback.
When they got back to Paris, however, the gang found that Bentley and Clockwerk returned to their latest obsession, because ever since they scouted out Kaine Island they would spent a few hours every night going over the blueprints to Dr. M's fortress, looking for a way to get into the Cooper Vault. Both of them soon came to the conclusion that there was no way inside unless the gang picked up a dedicated RC Specialist: an expert who had mechanical and piloting skills far exceeding Bentley's own skills, especially since Clockwerk didn't have the skills either. Fortunately, between the two of them, it only took them a few days of searching techy chat rooms before they finally found someone who could keep up with them intellectually: a gearhead genius out of Holland named Penelope. She politely declined our invitation to join the team, saying she only works for 'the best', which apparently was her current boss, the Black Baron, a bigtime dogfighting champ up there in Holland. He's so good that he's even set up an international competition called ACES to attract worthy opponents, to which Carmelita reminded them that, when she was being fired, she heard that Muggshot was supposed to have gone into the ACES competition.
At first the decline sent Bentley and Clockwerk into finding someone, anyone, that would be able to match the skills that they had found when they discovered Penelope, but not a few days later she actually contacted them and sent them a counteroffer to what Bentley had sent her. If the gang could manage to beat the Black Baron at his own game, then she'd know were weren't just a pack of jokers and therefore worth her time, which was an interesting challenge that none of them had even considered before she made the counteroffer. So, the gang got busy the moment the counteroffer was made, as Bentley and Clockwerk oversaw the construction of two planes, as they knew that there was no way that Carmelita would let Sly fly alone, and the gang worked together to put the two planes together. They were going to prove to this Penelope that the Cooper Gang was up for the challenge, even if they were making parts of it up as they went along, and, once the planes were ready to go, the gang headed out for Holland to attend the competition.
When they arrived in Holland, and safely stored the planes in the hanger that Bentley was already installing security measures in, the gang made their way toward the hotel that they would be staying in, more accurately the large room that they would be residing in for their stay in Holland... and, not even a few minutes after their arrival, Sly and Carmelita slipped into their pilot uniforms and walked out the door, as there was information that they needed and the only way they were going to get it was by investigating the area.
"If we're going to succeed in this year's ACES Competition, we'll need to know who we're flying against." Bentley informed them, speaking to them through their binocucoms as they surveyed the teams that had gathered in the lobby area below where the rooms were located, even though Carmelita spotted Muggshot minding his own business.
"What? They keep the flight roster a secret?" Sly asked, as that sounded weird, because he thought that the teams would want to know who they were going to be flying against, but, at the same time, he had the feeling that Bentley was going to tell him why this was a thing to begin with.
"Correct." Bentley said, though he was happy to see that Sly and Carmelita, as he could see her nodding her head as she studied Muggshot, understood what he was saying, before focusing on what he was going to tell them, "In years past, competitors would go out at night and sabotage each other's planes, in preparation for the next day's dogfight."
"Now it makes sense." Carmelita spoke up, as she spent a few seconds thinking about it and understood why this was a thing, especially when it was clear that the Black Baron wanted this to be a fair competition, "So now they keep the line-up a secret, and no one knows who to mess with."
"Precisely." Bentley replied, showing that he was glad that he didn't have to explain everything to the two of them, before he focused on what he was going to tell them, "Look Sly, Carmelita, you both are good pilots, but we've only got two planes, and you'll be up there against dozens of bogeys!"
"You know, normally I'd makes some sarcastic remark about how overwhelmed I am by your confidence in us," Sly said, as that was what he would have done in the past, because it was fun making those type of remarks to Bentely since he had some interesting reactions to his words, before he focused on the task at hand, "but those are some grim odds, and well you know, we're always up for some sabotage!"
"Glad to hear it." Bentley replied, though at the same time he knew that Carmelita might not like the idea of sabotage, but, from the looks she was giving him, it seemed like she had fully embraced the role of a thief and understood what Sly was talking about, "Now the roster is kept secret from the pilots, but not from the event staff."
"So, do we have a mole on the inside?" Carmelita asked, because in all honesty she didn't see anyone that might be on their side, though as she said that she spotted a familiar face in the background, as one of the Klaww Gang members had come to the competition and appeared to be working here part time.
"Our 'friend' Dimitri has been hired to give 'color commentary' during the dogfights." Bentley answered, to which they both focused on the person in question, who had no customers at the moment, but that meant that they'd have an easier time talking to him if no one was nearby, "He'll know where the roster's hidden. Just casually approach him and talk to him as if you're a pair of pilots, instead of thieves, but be careful... if one of you start a fight with the other pilots, we'll be kicked out of the competition."
"Sure. We all play nice until tomorrow, than we blow each other to bits at three hundred feet." Sly commented, to which both he and Carmelita put away their binocucoms and started to walk down the path that was off on their left, as jumping down into the lobby would attract too much attention and that wasn't something they needed right now.
Fortunately Dimitri, despite working behind a bar, didn't have any patrons at the moment and the staff that he worked with had already collected the drinks he had made, though since it appeared that he was going to be alone for some time the duo approached him, where his eyes locked onto theirs as they sat down in front of him.
"Dimitri, funny seeing you here," Sly said, though at the same time Dimitri picked up a glass and proceeded to fiddle with it, like he was going to make another drink, for one of them, but did so slowly to show others that he was focused on his job and wasn't to be disturbed until the drink was complete, "I never pegged you as a fly boy."
"Like a dance floor with many lights, I have many profiles, dig?" Dimitri stated, speaking to them in the same fashion that he had used when they first encountered each other, though at the same time he didn't sound upset over them taking out his counterfeiting operation and the Clockwerk Tail Feathers that he had stolen, "Don't even try to understand the silky enigma that is Dimitri."
"Bentley seems to think that, as a member of the Black Baron's staff, that you might have a copy of the ACES flight line-up," Carmelita commented, though as she said that she stared at the wall behind Dimitri, making it look like she was interested in the drink when she really wasn't at the moment, "Is that true?"
"And why should I talk to a pair of two-bit, rooty-poot, cracker-boxes like you?" Dimitri replied, once more falling back to the same terms he had used when they had been talking earlier, as he did enjoy calling people by his own names that he had made up, "Question mark in bold... Why?!"
"Because we all know that you wouldn't have bothered to show up if you didn't intent to tell us to begin with," Sly said, as he knew that threatening Dimitri wasn't the way to go about things, nor was threatening to expose him, so going through it this way was the easiest way to get things done, "So, do you have the flight line-up?"
"I know, but to talk is like sitting on electric chair!" Dimitri stated, though at the same time the slight rise in his voice didn't seem to concern the staff around them, showing them that they were used to how he acted already, "The Baron has eyes, eyes and ears, ears and fists! Dimitri will be discovered and the jig is pinched!"
"Come on now Dimitri, a man like you can deal with this Black Baron." Sly replied, though at the same time he knew that since the iguana couldn't deal with his gang that this was pretty much a lie, but he noticed the perk of Dimitri's ears and knew that he was on the right track, "You've got the best fashion sense of anyone I know."
"Le Fashion... style?" Dimitri said, seemly confused at first, as he wasn't expecting Sly to say something like that at all, and Carmelita only knew that he had said it so they could get moving before someone spotted them, before his mood improved instantly, "You... You're right! If I can out dress him I can certainly outsmart him. All is told through clothes. Okay, I'll talk of flight line-up is you agree to owe Dimitri a favor... which I will collect in a few months time. Oh, this is no small time favor like: 'will you water my fish or feed my plants'. This is old school mafia, blood-pact, like movies... big time."
Carmelita and Sly glanced at each other for a moment, as they weren't exactly sure that this was a good idea, as there was a number of things that Dimitri could do when he called in this favor he wanted, potentially even damage the Cooper Gang's reputation in the process if he wanted, but since they needed Penelope's help to get into the Vault they really had no choice in the matter, not if they wanted to win the ACES Competition and enlist her help.
"Okay then Dimitri," Carmelita said, as she knew that Sly was okay with this, otherwise he would have said something, to which the two of them focused on the person they were talking to as she prepared to give him what he wanted, "hook us up with the flight roster and we'll owe you one."
"The bargain, she is struck!" Dimitri replied, a look of happiness appearing on his face for a moment, showing that he was pleased to have the assistance of the Cooper Gang, even if they might not want to offer it to him, before he focused on what they wanted from him, "To find flight roster, look behind one of the tacky paintings in Black Baron's air hanger. It's hidden in a secret safe... Stand cool, here comes Big Cheese!"
Sly and Carmelita turned around in their seats, exactly at the same time as many of the other pilots turned to face the entrance area of the hotel, and found a short man, who was wearing a large dark blue coat with gold buttons, a red scarf, black breeches, black boots, red gloves, a leather aviator cap and large goggles, and that the man also had a large black mustache... but, despite the fact that they couldn't tell what species the person was, both of them realized that they were staring at the Black Baron, the person they came to beat.
"I bid you all a most flamboyant welcome, my esteemed comrades of the skies." the Black Baron said, surprising the duo with the fact that he seemed to have a British accent, though at the same time they made sure they were listening to what he said, as he might have information that was critical to their operation, "Welcome, WELCOME, to another year of the ACES Competition. We've got teams here from across the globe: Canada, Belgium, Ecuador, Iceland, Korea, and many, many more! Not the least of which is last year's deadly runner-up, Team Muggshot!"
"This time we're going to drill you jokers full of holes!" Muggshot stated, though his tone revealed that he was annoyed with having lost the previous year, but that was common since it appeared that the Black Baron won ever year since his first victory, something the gang was aiming to beat.
"Now, we all know that in years past some teams have engaged in a little good natured late night hi-jinx." the Black Baron continued, no doubt expecting that sort of reaction from Muggshot, which only showed that he had planned all this out and the speech likely included another break or two for what was coming next.
It was in that moment that Sly and Carmelita learned of the various sabotages that had been used in the previous years that this competition had been going on: one team stealing another team's parachutes, another sawed off the landing gear of a different team's planes, and even one team putting rat poison in another team's coffee machine. The both knew that Bentley already had some ideas in mind, and this might give some fuel to the ideas that he was already thinking about, but they kept silent as they waited for the Black Baron to wrap things up.
"Yes, yes, that was so VERY funny, but no more!" the Black Baron said, revealing that he let them talk for a few moments to give the other teams an idea of what happened in the past, if they were new to the competition, before moving onto the topic he wanted to talk about at last, "You know the rules, no one, absolutely NO ONE is to leave the hotel after sunset. If my guards catch you outside they will beat you to within an inch of your life. No EXCEPTIONS! This WILL BE a fair competition."
Sly and Carmelita paid attention to the other pilots, some of which had scars to prove that the Black Baron wasn't kidding about his guards, but then again those same guards hadn't been trained to find any thieves like them, meaning that they still had the upper hand. The two of them waited for the Black Baron to leave the hotel, and for Bentley to tell them that he was out of the area around the hotel, before they got moving, though Carmelita put down some coins in front of Dimitri and accepted the drink that he had made, just to make sure that no one thought that anything had happened, but made sure to throw it away and leave the empty glass on a table as they walked outside. Once they were back outside the hotel building them quickly made their way back up to the room that the gang was staying in and headed inside, from the outside door that Murray opened, before they emerged a few minutes later in their thief attire and started the trek to the keep that served as the Black Baron's base of operations... making sure to avoid the hare, ram, and pig guards walking around the area, as well as the large wolf that was prowling the grounds, as they did that.
It didn't take the two of them long to reach the keep, finding that since the drawbridge was up that Bentley would have a hard time getting into the hanger, to which they followed the path that took them around the side and the exterior of the structure, pausing only when they reached the area where the Black Baron was walking around to avoid being seen, before they reached the roof area as Bentley, with a miniature Clockwerk on his shoulder, rolled into the area in front of the keep. Since it appeared that their friend was unable to get up here, as the switch they were looking for wasn't up here, Sly headed over to one of the medieval rock throwers and knocked it into the air, where it landed on the ground near him, giving him a way into the hanger, and the reason Clockwerk didn't transform was because their enemy was nearby and the sounds might attract him. From there Sly and Carmelita stood off to the side as Bentley headed into the hanger with his companion, allowing them a moment to enjoy the night sky, before they returned a few minutes later with the flight roster that they had been searching for... to which they headed back to the safe house so they could prepare for tomorrow's fight by sabotaging their opponents and increasing their chances of success.
Upon returning to the safe house, and giving Bentley a few minutes to go over the flight roster, where he discovered that Sly and Carmelita's opponents were Team Belgium and Team Iceland, both with fifteen planes as opposed to their two planes, and he already had a plan in mind. Murray and Diz were going to go through the sewers beneath town to get into the hotel and steal one of Team Iceland's viking helmets, something that they would place in Team Belgium's hanger, after they vandalized one of the second team's planes to frame them for the deed. Directly after that Murray would return to the hotel and help Gilda in retrieving one of Team Belgium's monogramed handkerchiefs, which they would place in the safe after the Guru assisted them in breaking into Team Iceland's supply truck that was carrying their lucky ice sculpture, to frame them for the deed. While they were doing that he and Clockwerk would be staying at the hanger with Derpy and Carmelita, just in the off chance that Muggshot realized that they were here and wanted to take revenge for Mesa City, which would give him the opportunity to test the hanger defenses if he was correct.
Not a few minutes after the plan was laid out in front of them Murray and Diz moved out for the sewer, though as each of them moved into position for their own missions they heard the sound of Murray being extremely happy about owing a small boat through the sewer. The reason for going through the sewer, as Bentley explained, was because if they forced the lock outside Team Iceland's room the overall plan would fail, as that would leave behind some evidence that their team was innocent of the crimes they would be accused of, and Sly agreed with his plan. While Murray and Diz were doing that, however, Bentley had the Guru grab the minds of the nearby guards and used them to ram into the back of the armored truck that held the safe that the ice sculpture was resting in, preparing it for when Murray was done with his first mission and found the time to make one of the Team Belgium flyers laugh, the perfect opportunity for Gilda to sneak away with the handkerchief that they were after. Sly, being given some time off this time around so he and Carmelita could conserve their energy for the semi-finals, observed the area as Murray and Diz came out of the sewer with the viking helmet, though as Diz hid the boat in a safe area, as he felt that they might need it later, before Murray headed into Team Belgium's hanger and vandalized the plane in question... before heading back over to the hotel, slipped into his pilot disguise, and could be heard approaching one of the Belgium flyers and attempted to get him to laugh.
Fortunately Gilda was able to get the item in question easily, as Murray decided to try and eat his fist and got his fist 'stuck' in his mouth, though once the handkerchief was claimed she headed outside as the Guru finished off the truck's defenses, opening the top of it so she could drop in from above... and, not a few seconds later, she flew off with the ice sculpture, indicating that she had placed the handkerchief in the safe and that Team Iceland would find that their prized item was gone soon enough.
As usual, the Coopers are quite effective at completing their objectives. Clockwerk commented, as he had been sitting in the hanger with Bentley and Carmelita, who were sitting in the part of the hanger where the controls were located, only to observe what the others were doing outside the hanger and watched as they framed both Iceland and Belgium for tomorrow's fight.
"That's one thing we pride ourselves on these days." Bentley said, because at this point in time most of the gang silently recognized the fact that the ancient owl was part of the gang, even if Sly had a hard time even voicing such a thing considering his history with the owl, but he turned towards the computer he was working on, "Clockwerk, Carmelita, I do have some bad news. It appears that Penelope heard a rumor that a rival team might be coming by our hanger to do some damage to our planes, though I don't have to tell you who that team might be."
"Muggshot." Carmelita replied, as he was the only dishonorable person in the entire building, from what she had seen anyway, and knew that he would have noticed her and Sly, meaning that he was coming over here to get some revenge on them for besting him, and in her case arresting him, back in Mesa City, "Well, it's fortunate that Judy heard we were heading to Holland and came to watch us compete, and she also heard a rumor that Muggshot was here... maybe we can use that to our advantage?"
Before anyone could say anything, and reply to Carmelita's suggestion that they take the criminal out of running entirely in some manner, the door of their hanger opened and Muggshot, using his arms to hold the halves of the doors open, appeared before them, to which Carmelita turned towards him as Clockwerk sighed.
"Greetings, trogoladites!" Muggshot said, his tone revealing that he was actually pleased to have spotted Sly and Carmelita earlier, when they were talking to Dimitri, as now he could release his stress from what happened the last time they saw each other, "Didn't think I'd forget about Mesa City, didn't ya? I'd figured you jerks let me smash up your aeroplanes and we're even."
Ah Muggshot, the muscle of the Fiendish Five, we meet again. Clockwerk stated, to which he turned around and faced the person that had once been one of his underlings, as he never considered the other members of the Fiendish Five as his equals, though he could tell that the man was confused for a moment.
"And who are you supposed to be?" Muggshot asked, though at the same time he was planning on smashing the planes, beat up whoever got in his way, and then leave so he could watch as the Coopers failed when it was time for them to take to the skies.
So, you have forgotten me over these last three years. Clockwerk said, to which he engaged his systems and was glad that the planes were some distance away from where he was standing, as the hanger had more than enough room for him to transform without damaging one of the two planes, though that was followed by his form expanding as a look of fear appeared in Muggshot's eyes, something that he had seen the last time they spoke to each other, Allow me to remind you. I. AM. CLOCKWERK!
"I... I h... heard you was dead!" Muggshot stated, but this time around Carmelita and Bentley could tell that the former member of the Fiendish Five was terrified, reminding them that the ancient owl that remained in his miniature form was quite terrifying when he wanted to be and inspired fear in those that were his enemies.
You would be wrong. Clockwerk stated, to which he took a single step forward and glared at Muggshot, finding it extremely easy to return to his menacing look that he had used for many years, and knew that his foe would run if he did anything, Now get out of here... before I change from hunting the Coopers to hunting you!
Muggshot backed off and let the doors close, as if he was following Clockwerk's desire, only for enemies to appear in the sewers, thus giving Bentley and Carmelita a chance to use the defenses to take care of them as Clockwerk stood guard over the sewer entrance that was placed in their hanger, just like all the hangers in the area. The two of them, each using one of the screens in front of them, were able to deal with the foes that were coming at them until Bentley discovered that their enemy had decided to go one step further and bribe some of the Black Baron's guards to assist him in taking out the Cooper Gang before they had a chance to take to the skies. Since they appeared to be coming with their explosives, and some tanks, Bentley got on the line with Penelope, who was pissed off when she heard that some of the Black Baron's workers turned traitor and were coming to attack the gang... only for the three of them to watch as she used her own RC Chopper to fly through the air and yank the guards into the air, knocking them out in the process, as well as destroy the tanks at the same time.
When the enemy forces stopped coming the gang knew that they, with Penelope's help, had scared them off and that they wouldn't be coming back, not after those that surprised were fired by the Black Baron, providing that their identities were discovered, but Carmelita didn't focus on that... as when Sly arrived they would suit up and wait for the call to take to the field, and then they'd claim victory in the semi-final match with ease.
Sly and Carmelita, after doing their own missions and waiting for the others to return with news of their success, spent their time relaxing and preparing for the semifinals, as while both Team Belgium and Team Iceland would be firing at each other, thanks to their sabotage, they would need to be careful when they took to the skies. Sly was surprised by the news that Clockwerk showed Muggshot his true terrifying form, something that the former gangster had seen a few times when they were part of the same team, but at the same time that had caused Muggshot to leave the hanger without attacking it himself, despite the fact that his hired thugs still came after them. Both he and Carmelita were surprised by the sudden fact that Penelope was willing to lend them a hand in defending their hanger, though what really caught their interest was her words, as they suggested that she might be the one to punish the traitorous guards, something that the Black Baron was known for doing... but, while it was clear that Gilda, Derpy, and Diz believed that there was more to their target than what they knew, Sly and Carmelita focused on what they would be doing soon and not on the champion.
Carmelita knew that, thanks to Bentley's plans, one team would be reduced to ten planes, since five of them were ruined by Murray last night when he was placing the viking helmet in the location Bentley told him to put it in, and that the other team still had all fifteen of their planes, something they were going to have to look out for. Her thoughts were interrupted when Bentley revealed that the hour was upon them, to which she and Sly headed out to the hanger as the rest of their gang followed them, to run a few more checks on the planes, only to find that they were in good condition and that there wasn't anything they needed to do at the moment. She and Sly, on the other hand, slipped back into their pilot uniforms and headed out with their planes, as while the coloration was the same, a requirement for the ACES Competition, there was one difference between the two, as Sly's had his logo on it and Carmelita's had her own personal Cooper Gang logo, the icon that she could use if she was looking for a mission that was assigned to her and her alone. Not a few seconds later they pulled the planes out of the hanger and moved them into the area of the launch ramp, as it was time for them to take to the skies and win the semi-finals, so they could focus on the Black Baron and whoever won the other side of the tournament.
"Stay sharp, you two!" Bentley told them, calling out to them while none of the other teams were around, as they had purposely waited for this point to let the others take to the skies first, so no one would know that they knew who their enemies were ahead of time, which would have revealed their hand in the sabotages, "Iceland and Belgium will be at each other's throats up there, but you're still outnumbered!"
"Relax Mom, this is going to be great!" Sly replied, to which he climbed into his plane and flew down the ramp in front of him, allowing him to take to the skies, before he spotted Carmelita doing the same thing in his rear view mirror, to which he smiled as they headed towards the arena that the Black Baron had set up ahead of time.
It didn't take the two of them long to reach the arena that they would be fighting in, but even as they moved into the area they found that both Team Iceland and Team Belgium appeared to be ready to tear into each other, a sign that their sabotages last night had worked out well, and they prepared their guns as they flew into the arena.
Eyes in the skies, peeps! a voice called out, one that they recognized as Dimitri's voice, though they mostly ignored the man as he got into the role that he had been cast into for the time being, giving him something to do while they fought their enemies in the skies, The semifinal round between Team Iceland, Team Cooper, and Team Belgium is now underway. The fangs are out! Dogfight action, great action! Arf-arf-arf!
Sly and Carmelita stayed near each other as they flew through the air, watching both Team Iceland and Team Belgium really tear into each other over what the gang had done last night, not that their enemies knew that piece of information, and found that, for the first few minutes of the fight, they didn't actually have to fire their guns just yet. Planes were falling apart left and right, a sign that the two teams were trying to get back at the other, and eventually some of them turned on both of the Cooper pilots, causing Sly and Carmelita to separate and start firing at the enemies that were around them so they could bring an end to the battle. Of course, like Bentley and the others expected, when someone tried to gun down Carmelita at one point Sly did a tricky maneuver and came to her aid, blowing the pilot that was chasing her out of the air and dropped him into the water, allowing them to continue their fight to be the last two standing. Carmelita also gunned down a pair of foes, one from Team Iceland and one from Team Belgium, that were beginning to chase after Sly, both to repay what he had done and to show that she wasn't to be underestimated, earning some cheers from the crowd as they watched the semifinals get closer and closer to the end point.
It wasn't long before it was only Sly, Carmelita, and one plane from both of the enemy teams left in the air at the moment, though at the same time, however, both Sly and Carmelita focused on their chosen targets, as Sly was following the Iceland plane while Carmelita chased the Belgium plane, before they were able to blow their enemies out of the air and smiled at each other as they started to depart from the area as Dimitri spoke up.
Tip-top outstanding! Dimitri called out, his own excitement being added to the people that had come to watch this part of the semifinals happen, though at the same time he knew that the other half of the semifinals would start soon and the people were waiting for that to happen, Team Cooper is going to le finals! Let the crowd say "Yay"!
When Sly and Carmelita returned to the hotel room that they were staying in, their safe house, they waited to hear the results of the other half of the semifinals, allowing the two of them some time to relax and calm their nerves if they needed some time to themselves. Eventually they discovered that their opponents in the finals were Team Muggshot and Team Black Baron, both of which were much better flyers than the teams they had just beaten, and Bentley revealed that the rules in the finals are a bit different than normal. It was then that they discovered that whoever took out the defending champ gets the title, revealing that their target would be the Black Baron, while at the same time their only real competition was Muggshot himself, and that they needed to remove him from the competition entirely. The plan was simple, as they were going to lure him out into the town square, where Judy was supposed to be hanging out, and have her take him out, borrowing the idea that Carmelita had come up with earlier, especially since he was still wanted by Interpol for his latest crimes. Bentley also revealed that the Baron won't be so easy to deal with, as he commanded an enormous team of fliers and has been known to bring in a squad of blimp gunships when things look grim, though the answer to the problem wasn't something they were expecting. Bentley's plan involved the local Lupus Gigantormus, the massive wolf they had seen earlier, which he was planning on drugging so the Guru would be able to ride it and take out some of the local guards, who he discovered also served as the Baron's pilots. The last thing they'd do, before the finals, was that Bentley was planning on hacking into the aircraft control tower, so they would be able to intercept any messages the Baron might send to his gunships if he was successful.
Once he was done revealing the plan of action to them, however, he told Sly and Carmelita that they were going to be out of the missions for now, to rest and relax until it was time for the finals to begin, save for the fact that he needed Carmelita to find Judy and make sure she found Muggshot. They all knew that if they were able to take out the Baron they'd be walking away with more than a trophy, as Penelope would be able to join the gang, and, after her stellar work defending the hangar last night, they all agreed that she was a prime recruit for the gang. As they came to that conclusion, and everyone started to get ready for their own individual missions, Carmelita headed outside and headed over to where Bentley wanted to meet her to discuss the plan to take out Muggshot, before he moved to the area that the giant wolf was located in.
"It's time we dealt with Muggshot!" Bentley stated, though at the same time he came to a stop behind Carmelita, who was currently looking out for Judy, since she was the only person that could get into a fight with Muggshot and get away with it, especially since they were trying to recruit Penelope for the Vault heist, "We can't risk him taking down the Baron before you or Sly in the finals."
"Not to mention that he deserves a little payback for what he tried to do to our aircraft hangar." Carmelita added, as the former member of the Fiendish Five had come to break their planes, only to be stopped by Clockwerk, something that was still strange and yet helpful at the same time.
"Since Muggshot's assault, the Baron has been keeping an eye on him." Bentley continued, knowing that time was of the essence for the gang, because the longer they took to get Muggshot behind bars, and decreased the number of pilots for the finals, the longer they ran the risk of being discovered, "We can't fight him out in the open, for risk of getting disqualified. Thankfully, Inspector Hops is out in the field looking for criminals as we speak."
"Muggshot is the same criminal he was when Sly beat him, only now he's wasting the opportunity that was given to him when he was released earlier," Carmelita said, as she had read that Muggshot had stolen some of the parts for his planes so he could compete, even though his skill proved that he wasn't a laughing matter, "Will all this in mind, and knowing why we want him out of the picture, Judy should be willing to assist us in arresting Muggshot again."
"Well, I'm going to head inside the hotel and see if I can't get Muggshot to come outside," Bentley replied, though as he turned to go he noticed that Carmelita seemed to be thinking about something, making him wonder if she had an idea about that as well.
"Just tell him I'm outside and he's sure to come running." Carmelita stated, as she remembered Muggshot telling her that one day he'd repay her for locking him up behind bars, even though she had been a cop at the time and his rage was directed at the Cooper Gang, and she knew that this might be what Bentley was looking for.
Bentley nodded and descended down to the ground below him, where he made his way over to the hotel building so he could find Muggshot and get him to come outside, though while he did that Carmelita sighed and dropped down on the other side of the building they had been standing on, where she found Judy standing there with her arms crossed.
"This is such an underhanded plan, and I never thought the Coopers would do something like it," Judy commented, as she wasn't too pleased by the information that had been brought to her attention, because Carmelita had contacted her the moment she knew that Bentley wanted to take out Muggshot, though she was abiding by the agreement that they had made with Secretary Sen, "and I never thought that you would agree to it."
"Hey, I'd actually prefer to take him out in the skies and let you cuff him later," Carmelita replied, as while she told Bentley that this was a good idea she still wanted to win the finals fairly, but since they were at the finals she also knew that keeping him in the game wasn't something they could accord to do at the moment, "besides, last I checked Interpol was still looking for Muggshot, for his latest crimes, and this is likely the best opportunity you'll get to bring him in and put him behind bars for a good portion of his life."
"And then you guys can beat the Black Baron and enlist Penelope's help in whatever you have planned," Judy said, as she remembered what Secretary Sen had told her when he learned that the Cooper Gang was coming to Holland, since they generally told him what they were doing in case they defeated a criminal like Octavio, "Seriously, what could you and Sly be planning that requires you to recruit even more members to your gang?"
"Judy, do you know what the Cooper Vault is?" Carmelita asked, as the first time she had heard of it was back when she and the gang were meeting her family, and she knew that Secretary Sen knew what it was since he assisted them in reaching Kaine Island for the first time, where they learned that the deed to the island had been stolen many years ago, no doubt thanks to Dr. M.
"No. I only know that it's your endgame." Judy replied, as she had been told that the Vault was the reason this was happening, but she still didn't understand anything about why they were still gathering members for their gang, especially with three magic users among their number, "Why, what's so special about it?"
"It's where Sly's family, his ancestors, have been leaving the lions share of their loot," Carmelita answered, knowing that Sly might have a problem with her telling Judy what was supposed to be inside the Vault, but since Secretary Sen had informed her of the Vault's existence she was entrusting the knowledge of what was inside it to her as well, "Right now someone is in possession of the island the Vault is on, with a stolen deed based on what we've found so far, and they've set up some fortifications that require us to recruit more experts into the team. That, Judy, is why we're here, trying to recruit the Black Baron's mechanic into the team, as she's good with those RC vehicles that Bentley can no longer use due to his current situation."
"Hey! Cop Hag!" a voice said, to which the duo peeked around the corner and found an irritated Muggshot standing in the middle of the area that Bentley designated as the area that they should fight in, though he looked ready for battle and wanted to smash something before the guards came to bother him, "Come on out so I can make you pay for you did to me back in Mesa City!"
"Sorry, but Carmelita can't come out to play today." Judy replied, to which she jumped up to the top of the single story building that was in front of her, allowing her to stare down at the criminal that was standing before her, "Muggshot, alias 'Two-Gun Tony', also known as 'Meat-Head' Muggshot. Seven foot three inches, three hundred and twenty-four pounds, and wanted in seven countries with seventeen outstanding warrants for your arrest. I may not have been the one to put you away, after your defeat in Mesa City, but Carmelita was my friend and she did give me some pointers when we were still learning how to be cops... so I think I can handle you."
Muggshot growled and pulled out his guns as he took aim at where Judy was standing, but as he did that, and started firing, Judy moved out of the way and whipped out her shock pistol, before taking aim at her target and loosed a charge into his chest, causing him to growl as he turned towards her. She knew that Muggshot was a sturdy individual, as it took multiple shots from a shock pistol before he fell to the ground in defeat, which meant that she had to dodge the bullets that were coming at her and fire when an opening revealed itself, to take care of the criminal before he did anything that would worsen the charges that she had said. Muggshot, already enraged at the moment, focused on her and nothing else in the area around them, only growing more annoyed as Judy dodged the bullets that were heading her way, though Judy was focused on bringing the criminal down, while at the same time noticing one of the Cooper Siblings, Derpy based on the fur color, standing off in the distance as she focused on something else.
Fortunately Judy was faster than what Muggshot believed her to be, since most people assumed different things when they noticed that she was shorter than everyone else, but that worked to her benefit as she fired a number of shots into her target's body, eventually bringing him down and allowing her to sigh... before she turned back towards Carmelita, who chose to come out now that Muggshot was knocked out, since he would have no idea that she was there to begin with.
"I'll call in the squad and have them detain Muggshot until the finals are over," Judy said, though Carmelita nodded her head in understanding, as she knew that her friend wanted to see what happened in the finals, especially since they were trying to defeat the Black Baron, "What about you? What are you going to do?"
"Make sure the planes are safe and ready for the finals," Carmelita replied, to which she smiled as she embraced her friend for a moment, as she was one of the few cops that she actually trusted these days, especially after what happened to her when the Klaww Gang was their target, before pulling back a few seconds later, "I'll see you around Judy. Have fun watching the finals and writing Muggshot up when you get around to it."
Judy nodded her head and watched as Carmelita departed from the area that they were in, though as she did that she noticed that her friend had a smile on her face as she headed towards the hanger that their planes were in, showing that she enjoyed her life, even if she might miss being a cop, and guessed that Sly Cooper had a good impact on her life... to which she sighed and focused on Muggshot, as she and her team would detain the dog and then she could focus on the finals, just to see who won the battle between the Coopers and the Black Baron.
Bentley, who was positive that Carmelita and Judy could take care of Muggshot on their own, headed around the area that the former member of the Fiendish Five was located in, as he took the path that would take him towards the hangers, but instead of heading into the building he moved toward the area in front of the Baron's base of operations. His plan was simple, he just had to find the creature that was stalking the area, drug the thing enough to let the Guru take control of it, and then watch the fireworks as he tore through the guards that would serve as pilots against Sly and Carmelita in the finals. Of course, once the beast was knocked out, he would move out and hack into the terminals around the hangers, allowing him to gain control of some communications for when the finals took place, so he could figure out what to do when the Baron called for assistance. He shook his head as he entered the area that he was supposed to be in and found the beast he was looking for already walking around the area, meaning that he didn't have to go out of his way to find it and could get the show on the road immediately.
"A-ha, a perfect feral specimen of Lupus Gigantormus." Bentley commented, mostly speaking to himself at the moment, but at the same time he used his binocucom to zoom in on the beast, as he wanted to study it a little more before he pissed it off.
"So let me get this straight again." Sly spoke up, as he was waiting in the hanger, making sure that the planes were fine as Murray worked on them for a few minutes, since they had nothing to do this time around while the rest of his siblings ran interference back at the hotel room, "You plan on stalking that thing, drugging it, putting the Guru on board, and setting the two free to smash up the guards?"
"An airtight plan, I agree. It's simplicity itself." Bentley stated, as speaking about the plan would allow him to remind Sly of what he was doing as he focused on what was in front of him, even though part of this was still slightly terrifying when he thought about it, "By channeling the wild destruction housed in that bloodthirsty creature, we should be able to thin out the Black Baron's ranks... which of course mean fewer pilots flying against you and Carmelita in the finals."
"I'm all for evening the odds in our favor, but come on." Sly replied, as he knew that some members of his gang, and he was referring to his sisters and brother in that regard, loved to take risks that made no sense, though it seemed like Bentley was having his moment, "This plan seems a little... risky."
"Not at all. I've modified my sleep darts with heavy doses of Skunk Balm." Bentley informed him, as it was something that he had been working on before this point in time and, since he only had a limited amount of the substance in question, he had to be careful when he went forward with the next stage of his plan, "It should be enough the pacify the beast... provide he doesn't catch wind of me first."
"That sounds okay. You can just hang back and shoot him at a distance." Sly commented, as that sounded like the easiest thing that could happen at the moment, but the look on Bentley's face told him that he wasn't correct in his thoughts, which annoyed him a little.
"Given the weight of the darts, I'll need to sneak up behind him and take a shot within a few meters." Bentley said, to which he readied his darts as he stared at the beast, which was currently prowling the area in front of him, while he thought about what he was going to do next, "I'll send a signal that will let the Guru know that it's time for him to take control of the beast... and then I can focus on hacking into the computer nodes that are scattered throughout the area while he takes care of the guards."
"Okay. Good luck Bentley." Sly said, as he knew that this was going to be dangerous for his friend, not to mention the newest member of the gang, but since it appeared that Bentley had that under control he disconnected the connection and let him get to work on stalking the beast... while he and Murray continued to focus on the planes to make sure they were ready for the final match between them and the Baron.
Bentley moved out from the area that he was in and stalked the giant wolf that he needed to drug, though like he told Sly he could only get so close before the odor of the darts gave him away, and when he successfully loosed one of the darts into the wolf's rear he had to run for a few moments to be sure that he didn't get bitten. Once the beast stopped chasing him, and went back to his own devices, Bentley moved out of the area that they were in and repeated the process once more, causing the wolf to chase him again once the next dart hit his target and annoyed it, which he was expecting after the first time using a dart on it. He had to use four darts on the wolf before the Skunk Balm kicked in, causing the beast to run off into the distance before coming to a stop in a large part of the area below the Baron's keep and fell asleep where it was standing, where it collapsed and closed it's eyes. From that point forward Bentley sent out the signal and watched as the Guru moved towards the beast, just as he started to head towards the computer nodes near the hanger, before the beast woke up with the Guru on it's back and started assaulting the guards... though Bentley knew that the Guru already knew how many guards he needed to take out to even the odds for Sly and Carmelita.
What Bentley wasn't expecting was for Gilda to appear near where he intended to start the mission to hack into the various computer nodes and find what he needed to know, but at the same time he focused on the task at hand as he came to a stop near her.
"So, how do you plan to hack into the aircraft control tower?" Gilda asked, as she had the feeling that Bentley had an idea of what he needed to do, but right now she was interested in finding that out, mostly since she and Derpy really weren't doing much against the Baron's forces.
"It's simple, really." Bentley said, beckoning to one of the windmills that were near their location, as he had learned something while Sly and Carmelita were busy flying against the previous teams that they had sabotaged, "The whole system is linked through computer nodes which monitor the power generated by the nearby windmills."
"Really? All the power around here comes from the local windmills?" Gilda inquired, though at the same time some of the wind wrapped around her arm for a moment, as her power came from the wind itself, to which she smiled for a moment as she looked out at the area, "Honestly, I thought they were just for looks."
"The control nodes tell a different story." Bentley insisted, before he shifted in his chair for a moment, because he and Clockwerk had finished the modifications they had been working on earlier and now it was time for him to test them out in the field, to see if more changes needed to be made, "My turbo chair has been outfitted with an extra afterburner, meaning that heights such as what you see at the moment are nothing to me!"
Gilda nodded her head and watched as Bentley moved through the area around the tower that he was trying to hack into, using the launching devices that were scattered everywhere and the parts of the other planes that had crashed into the ground to get up to his target. She really had nothing to do, as this was mostly just Sly and Carmelita's show at this point, but she noticed that it didn't take Bentley that long to make his way through the first computer node and he made his way to the second one, where nothing seemed to change in the area around them. Bentley took a moment or two to make his way through the second computer node and then moved onto the third one, though as he did that Gilda slipped down behind one of the guards that was walking through the area and stole the loot that was in his pocket, giving her a little something to do while Bentley worked, before she noticed that he had completed the third computer and was moving towards the fourth and final one.
A few seconds later, as Gilda moved up to a safe area, she watched as Bentley used the afterburner that he and Clockwerk had added to the chair that he was bound to, allowing him to access the final computer node, though when he completed his task one of the windmill's sped up and broke off of the structure... where it flew through the air and whipped around the town for a moment before crashing into the structure that was keeping the water in the area near the hotel, enlarging the river by a decent about in the process as she touched down near Bentley once more.
"Windmill throwing stars, eh?" Bentley commented, though at the same time Gilda could see that he was already thinking of a way that they might be able to use this to their advantage, given what they had learned about the Black Baron before coming here, "This little system bug might come in handy!"
Once Bentley and Gilda returned to the hotel room, and set up a conference call with those in the hanger, he told all of them that they were now ready for the final round of the ACES Dogfighting competition and that it was time for what he called Operation: Turbo Dominant Eagle. In just a few hours, in the first few hours of tomorrow morning, Team Iceland and Team Belgium would begin fighting it out in the B-Champs round, which actually provided the perfect cover for step one of the plan that he had come up with and was verified by Clockwerk once he heard it. Sly was to head to the hanger with Carmelita, so they could suit up for the finals, while at the same time both Gilda and Derpy would fly up to the local gunships so they could plant some tracking devices on them before retreating. Murray and Diz would then use the two person rowboat they used in the sewers to pull down the aircraft communication antenna that rested near the now enlarged river, because with it out of commission the Baron would be forced to use an unscrambled radio frequency to call in the gunships for backup. If that happened, and both he and Clockwerk were sure that it would happen, they would be ready with our secret weapon, and, with the tracking devices installed into the gunships, they were guaranteed not to miss their target.
Of course it was up to Sly and Carmelita to take out last year's champ, the Black Baron, and show Penelope that they were as skilled as he told her when he found her in that chatroom, meaning all the rest of the team could do was sit back once they completed their tasks and wait for the pair to beat the Baron at his own game.
When morning arrived Bentley was excited when the B-Champs dogfight started, because with them going at it, flying over the town while blowing each other out of the air, no one was going to notice Gilda and Derpy slip onto the gunships and plant a tracking device in the location he specified. Bentley explained that, yes, the trackers did look kind of funny, as he and Clockwerk had put them together on such short notice since they hadn't been expecting to find that bug that he had discovered the previous day, before warning them that they were sensitive to extreme changes in altitude, not that it mattered to the sisters, who were used to high elevations. As the two of them headed out, to get the trackers in position, both Diz and Murray headed out to the river, getting into position for when Bentley called on them to do their part of the operation, while at the same time Sly and Carmelita accompanied the rest of the gang to the hanger so they could run one final test before they took to the skies and faced the Baron at long last. It didn't take Gilda and Derpy long to reach the four gunships in question and attach the trackers to the area that Bentley wanted them in, though once that was done they flew away from the gunships and headed towards the hanger... while at the same time looking down at Murray and Diz as they started using the rowboat to latch onto one of the support beams and attempt to pull them apart.
Fortunately it didn't take Murray and Diz long to break the first of the three support beams, nor did it take too long to get back and break the second one, though the third one gave them a little trouble when they had to deal with some falling planes, but eventually they cleared the bridge and the array came crashing down... to which the pair returned to the hanger so they could see off Sly and Carmelita, who waved at the rest of the gang before they took off and flew towards the area they had fought in the last time.
This time around both Sly and Carmelita had to separate from each other, as it appeared that the Baron's pilots were under orders to converge on their locations and destroy them accordingly, but, at the same time, he was in for a surprise as both of them used their skills and out maneuvered some of the pilots, causing them to crash and burn when they collided with one of their allies. The Baron, despite the fact that they were currently enemies, actually seemed impressed by the skills that the pair were showing off, even though both Sly and Carmelita were making a lot of things up as they went and just so happened to do so in a manner that made it look impressive, except for dodging, they were both good at dodging incoming attacks and dealing damage. Even Dimitri, who was commentating on the fight, sounded impressed by the performance and the crowd was eating it up, showing that he definitely had some skill in this sort of thing as Sly blasted a pilot that was gunning for Carmelita, who, in turn, blasted the Baron's plane enough to put it in the state where it needed to be taken down and repaired before something happened to it.
When the Baron tried to cheat by calling in the gunships, however, Bentley surprised him with one of the windmill throwing stars that he had discovered by accident, destroying two of the four gunships when they tried to target Sly, while also forcing the Baron to abandon his plan and drop down onto the larger plane that came in to retrieve him. What the gang found interesting was that Sly jumped out of his plane and chased after the Baron, where Clockwerk smiled as he activated the remote control function of Sly's plane to make sure it safely landed so they didn't have to repair it when the competition was over. From there the rest of the gang, along with the people that came to watch the event, observed as the Baron and Sly went at it on the wing of the plane that had come into the area, but the gang smiled as Sly managed to outmaneuver the Baron and his fists, before a well placed blow to the face damaged the mask that was over the person's face... only for them to discover that it was none other than Penelope that had been facing Sly and Carmelita in the air.
Just as they came to the conclusion that Penelope and the Black Baron were one and the same, even if the public felt that the Baron had given her the reins so he could retire without anyone finding him, Penelope rushed them to the winner's circle and proclaimed that they were this year's champions. Of course there was a bit of an awkward moment between Bentley and Penelope, on account of the photos they'd sent each other over the internet being a bit exaggerated, but at the very least Derpy smiled when Penelope smiled at Bentley. Once the award ceremony was over Penelope invited them to the 'Baron's' keep and explained that the disguise had invented to get her past the dogfighting league's strict age requirements, back when she was younger than she was now. However, after winning, the Baron became a celebrity, and she found herself putting on the costume more and more often, which was why she was glad that 'he' finally lost, because without that persona stuck to her she was free to take up a new path, and she joined the gang without hesitation.
The next day, after a good night's rest, the gang's latest recruit treated them to a week long aerial tour of Holland, showing them the sights as they took in the scenery and the places that she had come to know after winning her first competition all those years ago... and there was one thing that the gang agreed on, Penelope was going to be an excellent addition to their ranks, as she was fitting in just fine.
After their week long stay in Holland, after the ACES Competition was over, the gang packed up their gear and headed back to Paris, showing off the hideout to Penelope as Bentley and Clockwerk started to go over the plans for the Vault once more, just to double check their math and what else they might need to get to their destination. When the two of them finished their calculations an hour or two later, and even brought Penelope in to get her opinion on the matter, they told the group that, even with three magic users and the most dangerous mechanical owl on the planet, they were going to need another dedicated expert, just like what Penelope was. Bentley then elaborated and revealed that the three of them were referring to a full-times demolitions specialist, someone that would allow them to blow a good number of things up when they were finally ready to launch the assault on Kaine Island, though what shocked the majority of the gang was his nomination for the position he was talking about: the Panda King.
Carmelita had to tell Penelope that the Panda King had been one of the original members of the Fiendish Five, just like Muggshot had been before he was taken out, and that he was one of the five people that came and defeated Sly's father all those years ago, before making off with a section of the Thievius Raccoonus, all for the purpose of testing Sly, Gilda, and Derpy when they came for the pages he had taken. The Panda King had been making sure that they were ready for the eventual battle with Clockwerk, causing Penelope to raise an eyebrow when the name was spoken, since the gang had a mechanical owl with them that went by the same name, only for Clockwerk to reveal that he was the same one that she had been told about, only changed by the sudden change to the chip that kept his body running. Clockwerk also denied Penelope the chance to open his body up and study him, as she had never heard of a person making themselves immortal by replacing their body with metal and fueling said body with nothing but hate, or love and friendship as she guessed was the case now, before they returned to the topic at hand.
At the same time Carmelita was worried about Sly, as this would be the second person that had taken out his father that he might be forced to work with in order to get into the Vault, but while he had grown used to Clockwerk's presence, enough for his earlier dislike to decrease by a lot, she had to wonder what the Panda King's presence would do to him.
"Then let's get going." Sly commented, surprising the gang for a moment, especially those that knew his connection to the Panda King, though at the same time he grabbed his cane and started to gather the items that he would need for a disguise before they headed out of the safe house in a few days.
Are you really okay with this, Sly Cooper? Clockwerk asked, causing Sly to stop for a moment, before he extended one of his metallic wings and glanced at it, as he, alone, knew how to upgrade his body and could easily install some new weapons if it meant that Sly didn't have to delve into his past again, especially since he was a walking reminder of what he and his family had been through, If you don't want the Panda King to join us, and have his help in getting to the Vault, then I can spend a few days installing some better firepower so we'll have everything Bentley says we'll need for when we assault Kaine Island.
"Clockwerk, if you, Bentley, and Penelope say we need a dedicated demolition expert, and say that the Panda King is the best candidate for the position, then I'll take your word for it," Sly replied, though at the same time he turned around and approached the ancient metallic owl that was currently sitting on one of the perches he had spread throughout the hideout, "Besides, no member of the Cooper Gang has to carry the weight of the rest of the gang on their shoulders, or their back if you prefer, and that applies to you, Clockwerk. You don't have to act like you have to carry the weight of all of us on your shoulders, trying to do everything in your power to appease us and make up for what happened in the past... besides, if Gilda and Derpy were able to forgive you and welcome you as a member of the gang, like everyone else, then I should be able to do the same thing. If we're able to do that, well, then we should be able to do the same thing to the Panda King and see if we can't reach an agreement for him to join the gang for the Vault heist."
Clockwerk stared at Sly for a few seconds, surprised that Sly was actually acting like he was a member of the gang and was treating him like that, and a quick glance at Bentley and the ones responsible for the change of his core chip confirmed Sly's statement, as they nodded their heads to Sly's words, causing him to nod his head a little in return. He had set out with the purpose of showing Sly that the new Clockwerk, building off the mistakes that he made when he was powered by pure hatred, and now it appeared that he had succeeded in that mission, which only caused a light smile to appear on his face as they gathered what they needed. Once the gang was ready to go they climbed into Murray's van, which he had worked on multiple times and had Diz mess with when they had time, including a spell that made the inside of the vehicle larger than what the outside showed, which was perfect for the size of the gang, before they headed to the airport and charted a course for the last reported location that the Panda King had been spotted in.
Even with the use of Murray's van, and the directions that Bentley had gained from asking one of the locals where the Panda King was supposed to be that he combined with the layout of the area that Gilda, Derpy, Diz, and Clockwerk gave him, it took them some time to reach the area that the Panda King was located in. When they finally reached the area in question Murray parked the van, turned it off, and the gang, all geared up, stepped out and entered the short tunnel that was in front of them, as it was large enough for them to walk through while also being small enough to prevent the van from going through it. When they walked out of the other side of the tunnel the first thing that Bentley spotted was a path for them to use to get the van though to a different area, where he guessed the Panda King's residence was located, and the area around him seemed to be a meditation shrine of some kind, with their target in the direct center, dressed in monk robes and meditating on one of his legs while his eyes were closed.
"Stay sharp guys," Sly commented, looking out at the area that was around them for a few seconds, as he spotted a few guards walking around the area, guards that didn't look like the ones that the Panda King would have employed if he was still dangerous, "we've got enemies here, and some of them look dangerous."
"That is a good observation," Bentley said, showing that he was happy that Sly wasn't bashing the Panda King at the moment, though as he thought about that he turned towards the person they came to see, "Besides, just look at the Panda King. Have you ever seen someone more at peace with the world?"
"I'll admit, he does look kinda 'zenned out'." Carmelita spoke up, as she knew that they hadn't been quiet about their arrival, since the van was louder than what a normal vehicle in the area had been, but, at the same time, it didn't appear that the Panda King even knew they were there, confirming Bentley's statement.
"Uh... Mr. King?" Bentley called out, knowing that the guards wouldn't be able to hear him at the moment, and he wanted to try this to be absolutely sure about what was going on with the person they had come to see, "Honorable Panda King? We humbly wish to speak with you."
The gang watched as nothing happened, confirming that the Panda King was so deep in his trance that he was ignoring the outside world entirely, meaning that it was going to take some time for them to figure out a way to wake him from the trance and hope that he wasn't angry with them when they did that.
"He's definitely in a deep meditative trance." Gilda commented, remembering the times that Mz. Ruby had insisted that she, Derpy, and Diz meditate so they could better control both their emotions and their powers, "You know, it will take a few minutes, but the fastest way to get the team up to his shrine might be for the three of us to fly everyone up to the area in front of it."
"As much as I would like to experience flying with one of you guys, I don't think you can handle my weight." Murray said, surprising the team for a moment, because he usually never talked about his weight, before he glanced out at the open area that was in front of them and spotted something, "How about I use my ball move and the top of that pillar over there? Do you think I can bounce my way over to where the Panda King is meditating."
"Murray... that's an excellent idea!" Bentley stated, because while they were always caught off guard when Murray came up with an idea, as he had some interesting ideas from time to time, they quickly recovered from their shock and focused on the area in front of them, "Okay, you should get moving first. Since the guards don't know we're here yet, and I'd like to keep it that way, you should be able to get to the top of that pillar, where you can use your ball move to bounce all the way up to the Panda King."
Murray smiled for a moment before jumping down into the area that was below them and carefully made his way over to the bounce pad that would allow him to get to the top of the pillar that he had selected, all while the guards that were further in the distance in front of him happened to be looking away from his position. Since that was happening he jumped onto the pad that was near him and bounced up to the top of the pillar, where he pulled himself into his ball form and started to bounce as he made his way over to the path that he had spotted, the same one that wasn't being guarded by anyone at the moment. It didn't take him long to reach that point, where he returned to his normal state and ran over to the rail that was above the location that the rest of the gang was located in, where he waved at them and knew that they were going to start ferrying over everyone so they could see what they could do with the Panda King. The moment he was in position Gilda, Derpy, and Diz carefully lifted their friends and family into the air and flew them over to where Murray was standing, though two of them worked together to assist Bentley, so whoever would have helped him originally didn't accidentally drop him.
Once the entire gang was up where the Panda King was meditating, however, Clockwerk tackled the wooden pole that had some sort of motto on it and forced it to collapse so they had a walkway to reach the Panda King, where he landed on Sly's shoulder as he, Bentley, and the Guru approached the person they had come to see... and the Guru made a comment about what they were seeing once they stopped in front of the Panda King.
"I agree, he's in a super meditative state." Bentley said, though at the same time that only slightly complicated things for them, as that was the reason that he had asked the Guru to come with him and Sly, because he might be the only one among them that could break through the miditation.
"So I take it that shouting in his ear won't do anything for us?" Sly asked, as he had come to recognize the tones that his friend used from time to time, and this one told him that there was something that they needed to do so they could bring the Panda King out of his meditation, something he still wasn't looking forward to.
"That's correct," Bentley replied, pleased that Sly knew that they couldn't break the meditation in such a manner, even though there was a specific method they had to use to awake the Panda King, "to break him out of this trance we'll need to delve into his mind. It will require channeling. Clockwerk, do you mind joining Sly in his endeavor?"
I will do my best to ensure that Sly breaks the meditation, Clockwerk replied, though at the same time he was already prepared for what was going to happen next, as he had made sure to seal off the darker part of his mind so the old him, that he was still burying, never came back to the surface.
Sly nodded his head as Bentley turned towards him, where he sat beside the Panda King as Clockwerk went still on his shoulder, to which the Guru stood between them and the Panda King as he started chanting and spinning the stone at the top of his staff, allowing the energies in the air to bridge their minds as both Sly and Clockwerk closed their eyes.
When Sly came to, inside the mind of the Panda King, he found that the area they were in resembled the room that the person he had come to talk to had been in three years ago, when he and his sisters came for the pages of the Thievius Raccoonus, which the Panda King had used as an excuse to prepare them for the battle with Clockwerk. Sly took a moment to look around the area, and that was what Clockwerk did as well since this was the first time he had ever come to this location, and found that everything was exactly where it had been during his previous encounter with the Panda King, as if they were repeating the past. It was odd to be back here, back where he and his sisters had beat the person they came to talk to, but at the same time he guessed that, even with the time he had to himself, the Panda King was still stuck on the day that he had been defeated, if what he was seeing was any indication. And, to top it all off, he spotted the familiar form of the Panda King standing in the middle of the area that they were in, constantly switching from his left and right legs in the same manner that he had done when they were first there... and, based on the look in his eyes, it was like he was ready for battle, just like he had been when they came for him three years ago.
"I see you carry the cane of the notorious Cooper Thief Clan." the Panda King commented, glancing down at Sly's cane for a moment, no doubt recalling the moment that he had seen Sly's father use it against him and the other members of the Fiendish Five, even if he hadn't been able to fend any of them off, "Have you come here for revenge? To steal back the Thievius Raccoonus?"
"No, I came to talk to you about something entirely different." Sly said, because he had the feeling that if he allowed the scene to play out again it would just reset until he found a way to break it, since he was sure that the Panda King was repeating the day that he and his sisters beat him.
"Why should you care if I bury a few worthless villages in the snow?" the Panda King asked, causing Clockwerk to raise an eyebrow for a moment, as he had heard what happened between the Cooper Gang and the Panda King three years ago, before the person they came to talk to stared down at them, "You are a thief, just like me."
"Uh, yeah, are you even listening to what I'm saying?" Sly asked in return, because the way things were going it sounded like they were going to have to repeat the battle that happened all those years ago, which was why he gripped his cane, just in case a fight actually happened.
"Insolent child! You shall pay dearly for your disrespect!" the Panda King snapped, though that was before he raised a hand to his chin and considered something for a few seconds, allowing Sly to picture what had happened three years ago quite easily, as he knew what was coming next, "Still, to honor your Cooper ancestry I will send you to your doom with the beauty of my new firework technique... Flame-Fu!"
"Uh oh." Sly said, because this time around he would be fighting the Panda King on his own, as his sisters had been here the last time they all fought this one opponent and it was then that they caught the first glimpse of their inner powers, which awoke when they battled Clockwerk.
Sly moved the moment the Panda King hurled one of his fireballs at him, the same ones that he had seen three years ago, and moved around the area that they were in, but this time around he did something else as he dodged the attacks that were coming his way. After seeing the number of times either Gilda, Derpy, or even Diz channeled their powers into the area around them, or whatever they were targeting, he noticed that the Panda King was doing something similar, and he was sure that Mz. Ruby made the same motions that the Panda King was doing. Even as he thought about it he knew that it had to make sense, as Gilda and Derpy had been able to take hold of his fireballs when he threw them and even pushed them backwards, because their magic must have interacted with whatever magic the Panda King had unlocked during his time waiting for them to arrive. That meant that Flame-Fu wasn't a martial arts style that combined fireworks into the movements, it was him channeling his own inner power and actually causing flames to appear around his body and hands, meaning that he, as someone who didn't use magic, was definitely in trouble if he got hit... and that applied to Clockwerk as well, given his history of fighting his siblings and the powers that they commanded.
Despite his crazy discovery Sly's speed allowed him to avoid the incoming attacks and bypass most of the Panda King's defenses, giving him the chance to strike him a number of times in the center ring before he was pushed back to the edge of the arena, only he paused, showing that this was still slightly different than what happened three years ago.
"Snap out of it!" Sly stated, while at the same time noticing that Clockwerk had landed on a rail nearby and was silently observing what was going on at the moment, as he was curious as to what the Panda King was doing, before he turned his attention back to him foe, "This is all in your head!"
"My mind is clear, focused on your destruction!" the Panda King declared, his eyes staring down at Sly, as if he could crush him with just his gaze and nothing else, but at the same time he still made no motion to carry on the fight, meaning that he was waiting for some cue from Sly to move forward with the battle.
"Look, it doesn't take a genius to know why you're here." Sly said, to which he moved his cane and put it aside for the moment, showing the Panda King that he wasn't here to harm him and hoped that his opponent would get the message, otherwise he was going to have to beat him again, "You're fixated on the moment of your greatest defeat. My sisters and I beat you and, despite the fact that you planned on such a thing happening so we could battle Clockwerk, you've wondered how the three of us were able to beat you."
"You are correct." the Panda King replied, to which he lowered his hands as well and focused on Sly, still ignoring the metallic owl sitting nearby, before sighing as he thought about what he was going to say next, "My heart is heavy with the recent abduction of my daughter, Jing King, and my own failure to stop such a thing from happening. It stirred the anger that first turned me towards crime, then turned that anger into hatred for the man responsible for taking my daughter from me... something that I have been trying to get rid of, hence the meditation that you found me in."
You aren't the only one that feels that way. Clockwerk said, to which the look in the Panda King's eyes turned from the haze they had while he was talking to Sly, transformed into the anger that he had felt when he realized that he and the other members of the Fiendish Five had been pawns for Clockwerk's ultimate goal, and yet, as the Panda King turned towards him, Sly noticed that Clockwerk didn't seem to care, Many know the hardship of losing someone close to them, for whatever reason that loss was created from.
Sly watched as Clockwerk grew to his former intimidating state, finding that the area around them shifted a little to accommodate his increased size, and simply walked up to where the Panda King was standing, who stared at him with an intense anger in his eyes, as he had to be remembering what happened when the Fiendish Five attacked the house that he had been growing up in.
"YOU!" the Panda King declared, to which he turned his full attention to the mechanical owl that he had helped the Cooper siblings prepare for, who he had heard had been defeated and destroyed before he went into his meditation, and realized that this couldn't be a manifestation of his inner feelings, otherwise it would have attacked him at some point, instead of just standing around, "I don't know how you put yourself back together, but I'll make sure that you stay in pieces once I'm done with you."
I did not come to fight you, honorable Panda King, Clockwerk replied, though at the same time he even lowered his defenses and waited for the Panda King to make a move, all while keeping one blue eye on the person they had come to talk to, I, as well as the rest of the Cooper Gang, came to have words with you and ask for your help in a... personal... job.
"You... you're working with the Cooper Gang?!" the Panda King asked, as he was able to figure out what the ancient mechanical owl was saying easily, though the fact that the enemy of the Cooper Clan was willing to work with those he had sworn to kill raised several red flags in his mind, "What sort of game are you playing?"
"He isn't playing a game, not this time." Sly spoke up, where he noticed that the Panda King was still staring at Clockwerk, as if he didn't trust the words that were coming from his mouth, before he sighed and decided that he might as well see if Clockwerk could explain the situation to him, "Clockwerk, why don't you go ahead and give him the rundown on what happened to you? It might just be what he needs to hear to understand that you aren't who you used to be."
Clockwerk nodded his head and began to tell the Panda King everything that happened since his defeat, the parts that he could remember before his body was put back together and he came online again, and Sly had the feeling that the talk between the two of them was going to go on for quite some time before they could leave the area that they were standing in... that was if the Panda King didn't blow them out of his mind anyway.
Despite the amount of time that it took for Clockwerk to explain his situation to the Panda King, who had listened with some interest since he was unaware that the hateful owl could have changed for the better, Sly found that not much time had gone by in the world outside the Panda King's mind. When they did emerge from his mind, however, anger returned to his eyes as he recounted how he lost Jing King, as she had been abducted by a powerful general from the northern mountains and was to be the bride in a forced marriage to the same unscrupulous ruler. The Panda King, recalling what Clockwerk had told him inside his mind, then did what Bentley was hoping he'd do after telling them the story of how he lost his daughter, he asked the Cooper Gang for assistance in saving his daughter and, if they could, put General Tsao behind bars for the evil that he had committed so far. In exchange for the gang doing this, and reuniting him with his beloved daughter, he told them that he would gladly offer them his skills for the heist they were planning, in regards to the Cooper Vault job.
In the end Sly and the rest of the gang agreed to help him save his daughter, to which the Panda King retreated into his house for a few minutes, only to reemerge wearing the familiar attire that he had worn during their first battle, the white hairs, beard, and eyebrows shaved off, and a firework cannon fitted to his back... showing them, and the world around them, that the true Panda King was back in action, and that he wouldn't stop until he rescued his daughter and brought General Tsao down.
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.
Upon realizing that General Tsao knew where their safe house was located, something that they actually didn't use thanks to what the Panda King told them, Bentley and Clockwerk headed out the moment after the discovery of General Tsao's pictures in the machine that Bentley used to show the rest of the gang his plans for the area. It was clear that he wanted them to come to him, and had likely set up a trail for them to follow, to which all three of the geniuses that were present declared that the computer that held the information they were after would be inside the palace itself, which was where the duo was going. Sly, Carmelita, Derpy, Gilda, Diz, and the others were preparing themselves for the moment that they found where their foe was hiding, so they could rush out to that location and beat the stuffing out of him, or at the very least show him that they were better than he thought they were. Oddly enough, when they made their way to the palace, both Bentley and Clockwerk noticed that there weren't any guards walking around, meaning that General Tsao had something in mind for them and was expecting them at some point, though despite the fact that this could be a trap they pressed onward anyway.
When they reached the palace they found that either Jing King had been moved someplace else or was just fast asleep, as their entrance into the main area of the palace did nothing to alarm her, which was followed by the two of them looking around for what they needed to find.
"General Tsao's computer has to be around here somewhere." Bentley said, looking around for any signs of where the terminal was located, as it was the only thing that might have a clue as to where their target had gone, before he glanced over at his companion, "Clockwerk, have you found anything resembling a terminal?"
Yes, I have. Clockwerk commented, to which he opened his wings and flew over to the right side of the room, if one were to be looking at the entrance from where General Tsao had been standing when the gang met him before they found out he had their fake computer, before he showed Bentley to the terminal he had found.
"Okay guys, we've located his personal computer." Bentley stated, letting the others know that they were beginning their part of the operation, while at the same time knowing that their friends would be getting ready to move the moment they found something, "We'll let you know if we find anything."
What Bentley and Clockwerk discovered at first was that General Tsao seemed to have the standard security for his personal computer, which no problem for the two of them, but a few moments later they found out that their foe had a defense avatar to guard whatever was on the computer. Interestingly enough the avatar had several layers of defense around it, which they were sort of expecting since the General had something to hide or didn't want others to see, but eventually the combined power of the two of them tore through the avatar and opened the way to the information that they had come for. What was even more interesting was that he happened to have bookmarked a page in his diary, which meant that General Tsao must have set up a trap for whoever was coming after him, which was good and bad at the same time in Bentley's eyes, but as he looked at the marked page in front of him he had to smile, as he knew who to send out for the next part of the mission.
"Guys, I think we've found something." Bentley stated, noticing that Clockwerk was looking at some of the other pages that were open at the moment, showing that he was looking for additional dirt on their opponent before they brought him down and interrupted his wedding, "His diary mentions a secret passage through the prayer bell... then a walk across the heavens. You getting this, Sly?
"Carmelita and I are en route to the bell right now." Sly replied, telling Bentley that they wanted to teach General Tsao a lesson he wouldn't soon forget, though there was something in his voice that told him what else was happening at the moment, "Oh, and that includes Gilda, Derpy, and Diz flying after us as well."
"Good idea. They might be able to help you figure this out." Bentley commented, to which Clockwerk nodded his head as he continued to read the pages, showing that he agreed with what they were saying while at the same time not taking his attention away from his task.
While the two of them worked on the computer, however, Sly and Carmelita moved through the streets that were in front of them and made their way towards the prayer bell, while at the same time the three flyers were overhead, keeping their eyes open for guards and other things that they would have to take care of. Fortunately it appeared that nothing was actually going to bother them, as they were able to reach their destination rather easily, though that was followed by Bentley revealing that he needed to activate the sequence from the palace and both Sly and Carmelita walked under the raised bell, since there was only room for the two of them. After the bell lowered back into position it rang and the duo disappeared, only to reappear on a cliff far above the stronghold, where they had to walk out of a door and see where they were positioned before the three flyers could join them and look out at the fortress that was resting in front of them at the moment. At the same time, while they took in the sights, Gilda, Derpy, and Diz glanced at the other cliff that was some distance away from where they were standing, to which they wondered if they had figured out the passage that Bentley had read to them earlier.
"So, do you guys have any idea what that 'walk across the heavens' thing means?" Sly asked, because the ones that might know the answer were Gilda, Derpy, Diz, and the Guru, though if his family couldn't figure it out then he guessed that he could always ask the Guru for his assistance.
"I think all we have to do is head over to that other cliff face," Derpy replied, pointing at what she was talking about with her cane, where Sly and Carmelita looked at it for a moment, before she opened her wings once more and took to the skies, which both Gilda and Diz did as well, "Come on, we'll carry you guys over there."
Sly and Carmelita let the three of them grab onto their arms and take them into the air in front of them, where they made their way over to the other cliff face that they had been staring at, though as they got close they noticed that there just so happened to be a large hole for all of them to climb through. The moment they landed, and the three flyers tucked their wings in, the group took turns crawling through the hole, where they eventually came out in what appeared to be a decent sized forest, which they couldn't see the bottom of since it was covered in fog and they were at the top of the bamboo trees. Once one of them reached the end of the line they jumped forward and used the Ninja Spire Jump to land on one of the tree tips around them, all while they stared across the area that they were in, because General Tsao, in all his glory, was clearly waiting for them to arrive and he seemed to be very happy about their arrival.
"Ah, the famous Sly Cooper and his family." General Tsao said, never taking his eyes off of them, showing them that he was either looking for something or that he was determined to take them all down, regardless of the skills that each of them possessed at the moment, "It seems you and your little gang were able to follow the trail I left for you. Of course, even with four of them standing beside you, you'll be helpless, as you'll soon discover."
"I'm not ashamed to rely on my friends and family." Sly replied, as he had been doing that ever since he first found himself at the orphanage, because without Gilda, Derpy, Bentley, and Murray he never would have gotten his revenge on the Fiendish Five, never would have completed the Thievius Raccoonus, likely never would have even met Diz, and he was certain that he'd never have a chance at getting Carmelita to chase him without his gang.
"Who needs friends when you can have servants? Who needs affection when you can have obedience?" General Tsao replied, the superior tone returning to his voice, something that he almost never seemed to be without, but at the same time the five of them prepared themselves for whatever he was going to say and do, "Ah, why try to convince you when I can simply destroy you? This sacred forest has been the stage for thousands of battles, as my ancestors crushed anyone who got in their way, and you, and your family, will be no different."
"I've heard of these types of battlegrounds before." Diz commented, as he remembered the lessons that Mz. Ruby had given him, Gilda, and Derpy, and both of his sisters nodded their heads in understanding, before he glanced at the area around him for a moment, "The energy from all the fighting that has gone on before strengthens the combatants, allowing them to soar for long distances. We should be able to fly all the way across the arena with one jump. Plus, we can probably change directions in the air with the second jump."
"Enough chit-chat, Coopers." General Tsao stated, to which he moved his arms for a moment and showed them that he was ready for battle, something that they had to agree with, since that was the whole reason Bentley had created the fake computer and allowed this to happen with the Panda King's earlier assistance, "Face me now, and prepare for the end of your legacy."
That was followed by the five of them heading in different directions as General Tsao came flying at them, the intent to kill them firmly blazing in his eyes, before one of them circled back and smacked him with their cane, noticing that their attacks really didn't do all that much. When it was Gilda, Derpy, or Diz that attacked him, however, their innate powers came back to the surface and it seemed that he didn't have any magical defenses, but that didn't seem to phase their opponent as he continued his assault, where they noticed that he was actually going after the female fighters first, instead of going after Sly or Diz. It actually made things easier for them in the long run, because two of his targets had magic to back them up and Carmelita had adapted to using a cane like she had been raised as a Cooper Thief, all of which added together and showed General Tsao that no matter what he did he was screwed, as it was five against one and he had yet to score any sort of blow against the group. His inability to actually hurt them eventually came to bite him in the rear when he tried to score a blow on Carmelita, as Gilda, Derpy, and Diz intercepted the attack and, fueled by their magical energies, they knocked him right off the tips of the forest they were fighting above and sent him right into the ground below them, where the sound of him hitting the earth was heard for a few seconds.
After that the five of them dropped down and descended into the area below them, though while that would rob both Sly and Carmelita of their abilities given to them by the atmosphere above the forest they knew that they didn't actually need it, not with Gilda, Derpy, and Diz backing them... and, when they finally came to a stop, they found General Tsao picking himself up and arming himself with his shield once more.
"Well done, esteemed wedding photographers." General Tsao commented, showing that he was smarter than they originally gave him credit for, especially since he recognized both Sly and Carmelita, something that many of their prior opponents hadn't been able to do, "I'm impressed that you, and your 'friends', have lasted this long."
"Stop this, Tsao." Gilda stated, though at the same time she and the others readied themselves, because sometimes negotiating with their enemies failed and the fight continued, even if she was hoping that this one might see reason and end this pointless fight, "Release Jing King from your palace and this fight can end."
"No! Jing King is mine!" General Tsao snapped, showing that he honestly didn't care for their beliefs and what was actually correct in the world these days, while at the same time glaring at all of them as they stood their ground, "Once our bloodlines cross, it shall be glorious. The Panda King, in his day, was magnificent. With the Tsao name, a new generation of Kings will be unstoppable."
"But she doesn't want to marry you!" Derpy replied, as they knew, from the short amount of time that they had spent listening to Jing King's cries, that the Panda King's daughter wanted nothing to do with the person that had kidnapped her and was holding her against his will, all offenses that he could be punished for.
"She's a woman! She doesn't know up from down, just like the women standing near you, Sly Cooper!" General Tsao stated, showing that he truly didn't care about women at all and merely saw them as tools and possessions, another thing that was punishable these days, and this just made them want to knock him down even more, "Once I 'convinced' her father to take up meditation, she was ripe for the picking."
"During my time with Interpol, I heard Secretary Sen talk about people like you," Diz said, though at the same time Sly and the others had to take a step back, because from what they could tell, thanks to the sinister looking aura that had appeared around him, that something was going to happen, "all of them were bad, always treating women like they were mere possessions and not real people, but you, General Tsao, are by far the worst... and I'm going to enjoy punishing you for your actions."
Before anyone could stop him, and before their opponent could raise his shield or channel his own magic, Diz raised his right hand, with his cane in his left hand, and loosed a powerful beam of magic that slammed into General Tsao's chest, knocking him to the ground and causing him to cough as he let go of his shield for a few seconds. Sly, Carmelita, Gilda, and Derpy watched as Diz's magic seized control of Tsao's body, which shrunk in size and became more feminine than it had been earlier, until they were all sure that there was nothing masculine left, all while Tsao moaned in pain as his body shifted on him. After a few moments of watching the magic finally stopped, though when that was done they found that Tsao's body was definitely a woman's body, thanks to the fact that the former male now sported a pair of breasts and her hand felt between her legs, only for a female voice to scream as she realized what she had lost. At the same time, thanks to her smaller frame, the armor she was wearing was no longer effective and she was forced to take it all off, revealing that she had been wearing a simple purple shirt and blue pants, which she had to hold onto to avoid letting them fall and revealing her body to her enemies... who simply stared at the former General as she fled into the distance, only to fall several times in the process and curse part of her body for her new clumsiness.
Oddly enough Tsao was also carrying the fake computer, something that they could recover if they really wanted to, but before doing anything else the group turned towards Diz, whose use of magic had a familiar effect on him, because he had shifted back into his female form.
"Diz, you okay?" Sly asked, as he noticed that Diz was huffing, meaning that it must have taken a lot out of her to cast whatever spell she had used on Tsao, which also made him think of something else he needed to ask before they departed from the area they were in, "What did you do to General Tsao?"
"First, I'm fine." Diz replied, to which she sighed for a moment as she heard her own female voice again, something that she was used to since her chaotic powers liked to flip her gender when she used too much of her power, "Secondly, I put a curse on General Tsao that's tied to his empathy, so unless he learns enough about women, and gains the proper respect he should have had for them to begin with, he's going to be trapped in that form forever. Also, in the off chance that he might try to use his own magical abilities to counter my spell, I added another one into the mix that makes it impossible for her to use any of the Dark Arts that he's learned over the years, and a few more to mess with his ability to use weapons and whatnot. It'll be interesting to see how he likes being on the receiving end of his philosophy, after we've freed Jing King, stolen his treasure, and whatever else we do after today."
Sly and the others had to chuckle for a moment, as this seemed like a fitting punishment for General Tsao, because now Diz's magic had effectively removed any chance of him terrorizing the area with his powers and whatever else he had hidden away, and his guards were going to find out what happened to their boss soon enough... especially since it sounded like Bentley was in the middle of typing something up to make sure Tsao's days as a general were over.
As it turned out General Tsao had opted not to return to the palace by the time the five of them decided to move, giving them time to walk into the palace, open the door that had been the barrier between General Tsao and Jin King, and reunited the Panda King with his daughter. At the same time, however, Clockwerk and Penelope assaulted the treasure building that was on the cliff above the palace, near where the building the mechanical owl had slipped into once it had the keys that the others acquired, and quietly made off with the treasure that was inside the building. Once those two objectives were taken care of Murray gathered them all in the van and headed off to the house that the Panda King's sister owned, where he intended to drop off Jing King and a sizeable portion of General Tsao's treasure, so that the two of them would have some additional money for the future, and in case Jing King found someone that he could approve of. It was touching for the gang, seeing the Panda King be happy with his family, and knew that they had done a good job making sure that nothing terrible happened to Jing King... before the Panda King finally said goodbye and walked over to them, to which the gang welcomed their newest member before they departed from the area they were in.
While they were heading back to a place that would allow them to get back to Paris, however, they found an article about how the guards discovered that they had been 'lied to' and that Tsao was a 'lady pretending to be a man', which made her lose the rank she had earned and caused the guards to quit... and, to top it all off, it sounded like she was moving away with what little she had left to her name, while the gang focused on returning home to relax.
Two weeks had gone by since the defeat of General Tsao, which was forever going to be one of the strangest missions they had ever been on since Diz had switched their target's gender as a punishment because of how he treated women, and she was still stuck in her current form. Bentley noticed that Clockwerk was keeping track of what happened to the former General, since she had nothing left to her name because they stole all her treasure and her guards sold off a lot of the other stuff to pay their wages while they looked for new employment, and so far it appeared that she was moving to the states, to set up a new identity and start all over. The gang guessed that the ancient owl was simply interested in what happened to the other foes that the gang had gone up against, which made sense considering what happened to him, and he even showed them what the others were doing, though for the most part he let them focus on finding out if they needed any other team members before they headed out for Kaine Island. When he mentioned that Bentley informed them that there might be one other spot they needed to fill before they were ready to get underway, an underwater type of position that would be a great benefit since they had no idea what Dr. M had lurking beneath the water.
The gang got the message late the following Saturday night, as Dimitri was calling in the favor both Sly and Carmelita promised him back in Holland, which was when Penelope learned how they knew who they would be going up against despite her best efforts to keep the roster a secret, but she wasn't annoyed since that chapter of her life was over. Dimitri had gone ahead and booked the whole team, when he knew the exact number of members they had now, passage under assumed identities to none other than Blood Bath Bay. According to Carmelita, and what the gang knew as a whole, it was easily the most lawless town on Earth, because it was home to a large group of cultural hermits who doggedly maintained the ways of their pirate forefathers. Since Dimitri was calling in the favor they had promised, and informed Secretary Sen of where they were going despite not being able to have any assistance there at all, the gang gathered their 'disguises' for their identities and boarded the boat that they would be using to get to their destination, along with somehow finding room for the team van... though since that involved Diz and his chaos magic none of them really seemed all that interested in figuring out what he had done.
The cruise over gave everyone some time to relax as they got the rundown from Dimitri, who told the gang that his grandfather, Reme Lousteau, was a pioneer in deep sea diving and that he had made a fortune looting undersea wrecks for a number of years. Unfortunately, as it turned out, his grandfather's luck ran short when a young cutthroat by the name of Black Spot Pete stole not only his loot but his precious diving gear as well, leaving Reme a broken man that eventually retired from treasure hunting and started a family. Dimitri, having grown up on all of his grandfather's stories, told them that he dreamed of one day recovering the gear that had been stolen from his family, along with any loot that might have been buried with it, since pirates were known to bury treasure. The task was simple, all they had to do was get their hands on the diving equipment that Reme Lousteau used before his luck went out and give it back to Dimitri, who, if he wasn't lying to them, planned on joining the team as their frogman, which just so happened to be the last thing that they needed for the Cooper Vault heist.
Upon arriving near Blood Bath Bay, since the captain wouldn't go all the way to it, Murray got everyone into the van and they drove as close as they could get, though this time around things were going to be a bit different, since the pirates were more keen than their other enemies they'd notice anyone in the air, limiting Gilda, Derpy, and Diz to the ground, but that didn't bother them since it was because of them that they found a safe house for them to use. Finding a place to set up all their stuff, and outfit it accordingly, allowed Sly and Carmelita to head out and see if they could do something productive while the others prepared for the future missions, since they already knew that this wouldn't be that simple with all the pirates around them. As they headed through the town Bentley gave them a little information on Black Spot Pete, as it appeared that he had retired at some point and was living somewhere in the town, along with him giving them the supposed location that he was living in. Together it took them a few minutes to reach an area near the building in question, though when they stopped they found an old pirate that was standing outside either his house or the local bar, as the sign made it hard to tell what sort of building they were standing near... despite the skull fortress that was across the nearby bridge, which screamed that the most dangerous pirate in the area lived in that building.
"There he is." Carmelita commented, looking down at the picture that Bentley was able to get from Secretary Sen before they arrived in the area, because even though Interpol didn't have any business out here, as the other four Secretaries were inclined to let old fashioned pirates disappear on their own, that didn't mean that they didn't keep tabs on the leaders, in case something happened to change their minds, "Black Spot Pete."
"I didn't think pirates could get that old." Sly added, though he took a moment to stare at their target through his binocucom, just to make sure that they had the right target by allowing Bentley to confirm that he was who they were looking for, "Thought scurvy would get them or something."
"Don't lower your guard for an instant." Bentley spoke up, as he knew some things, once more provided by their friend in Interpol and the general knowledge he had gained from his searches, "All pirates are killers, plain as that, and they don't trust outsiders at all. How's your pirate accent?"
"Arggh, I forgot me number 2 pencil for the scantron test." Sly replied, doing his best at replicating a pirate's accent, though at the same time Carmelita chuckled for a moment, as she found it to be a little funny, before going back to staring at their target.
"Joke all you want, but that guy won't help us out until you earn his trust." Bentley stated, to which he cut off the connection so the two of them could get underway, even though he'd be listening with the others so he could figure out what else they needed to do before they found what they were looking for.
Sly and Carmelita jumped over to the roof of the building that their target was standing on the balcony of, while avoiding the patrolling pirate dog nearby, before they dropped down and landed near Black Spot Pete, who glanced at them as they came to a stop.
"Black Spot Pete," Sly said, drawing attention to them, because while he knew that Bentley wanted him to try the pirate accent out he was going to try the direct approach first, as he figured that there was no way this guy would remember them if they came back a few minutes later with a different appearance, "We've come to talk of treasure, a subject I hear you're familiar with."
"Treasure!" Black Spot Pete replied, a sense of joy appearing in his voice for a moment, showing them that he was a true pirate that enjoyed that sort of thing, before he glanced at them and frowned, "Aye, but I won't chatter with the likes of you on so blessed a subject. Get out of m'sight, landlubbers! All my years, I only spoke of the golden kindness with m'partner, Cantankerous Tim."
"Maybe we can work out a bargain?" Carmelita asked, because pirates were only interested in treasure and whatever they drank, she wasn't sure if it was grog or rum and she wasn't about to find out for herself, and she was sure that they could give him something or acquire something to get the information they needed.
"Shut your mouth hole, lubber, or I'll cork it with my cutlass!" Black Spot Pete declared, holding the cane that was his walking stick for a moment, as if he believed that it was his weapon of old, like he was going to hit them with it, "Hard on the tonsils, I assure ye!"
Sly and Carmelita took the hint and returned to the rooftop for a moment, getting out of their target's sight, before Bentley informed them that they were going to try and disguise Sly as Cantankerous Tim, which would require going after the three lieutenants that mutinied on him and took his pieces of his captain's outfit. Fortunately Bentley, having already heard that Cantankerous Tim was dead and who had the three parts of his attire that they would need, had already asked Gilda, Derpy, and Diz to acquire them by the time the conversation with Black Spot Pete was over. Derpy went after the first lieutenant, Stone Jake, and used her powers for a few seconds, blasting the unsuspecting pirate in the back with a bolt of lightning, enough to knock him out for a few hours and gave her more than enough time to claim the eye patch. Gilda, at the same time, went after the unnamed second lieutenant, indicating that the records weren't the best, and used her own powers to knock out both the guards and her target, before swiping the peg leg that was needed for the disguise, along with some nearby clothing that would make Sly look like a captain. The third and final lieutenant, Twitchy Ned, was easy for Diz to take out, as all she had to do was manipulate the ropes around her target, tie him up without a chance at seeing or hearing who was near him, and soon she was walking away with his hat... and, when she was far enough away, she undid the spell and released the frightened lieutenant, leaving him to his own devices.
With the full attire of Cantankerous Tim acquired, and Sly was dressed to look the part, he dropped down into the area that Black Spot Pete was still standing in and approached him, while at the same time the rest of the gang remained silent as they waited to see what happened next.
"Whuh?... Cantankerous Tim!" Black Spot Pete declared, though this was terrible for them, as it was clear that he knew that his friend had been killed at some point in time, but his old age was making him believe that his friend was actually alive and visiting him, "Yer back, you two-faced scallywag!"
"Aye, matey... and, not to be rude, but let's talk treasure... argh." Sly replied, doing his best to act like the person he was presenting himself to be, even though they had no idea how Cantankerous Tim spoke or acted, so he hoped that his skills were up to the task.
"How about a round of vinegar talk first, you baboon-faced toilet!" Black Spot Pete replied in kind, though that was when Bentley revealed that he had read about this at some point in time and that it was customary for pirates to engage in insult competitions, he just had to be sure not to repeat something that had already been said by either one of them, because if he did the gig was up, "You take the first broadside, shipmate!"
"You're a..." Sly said, crossing his arms for a moment for some dramatic flare, even if their target couldn't see him all that well, before he got down to business and came up with something that might do the trick, "Sheep-brained, Yellow-bellied, Whale-fart!"
"That be true enough," Black Spot Pete commented, as if he had been called that combination so many times in the past, to start the round of insults with, before he thought of what he was going to say in response to Sly's attempt at insulting him, "but you're a... Stupid, Twisted, Cow-pie!"
"You're a Bleating, Duck-billed, Swabber!" Sly fired back, hoping that this would be the end of it, but the smile that appeared on his foe's face told him that it wouldn't be that easy to get out of a insult competition, and he could already hear some of the other laughing at how childish some of these phrases sounded.
"But methinks you're a Blathering, Clam-tongued, Waste of skin!" Black Spot Pete replied, showing him that he was having fun with this, even if he wasn't sure if he was talking to another pirate or the spirit of Cantankerous Tim, all while forcing Sly to go with the flow.
"You are a Idiotic, Knuckle-dragging, Bag of vomit." Sly stated, all while wondering who came up with these words and the various combinations that they could be used in, though he was also thankful for Bentley and the others quickly finding the text that included all the terms, otherwise he would have been screwed.
"Yah swear like a child!" Black Spot Pete declared, which technically put him closer to the truth than his mind was allowing him to comprehend, before he got back to the matter at hand and focused on the next batch of words, "Methinks you are a Parrot-loving, Cross-eyed, Piece of filth."
"Oh yeah? You're a Cricket-sized, Grog-abusing, Anchor-head!" Sly replied, though he was thankful that none of his family were recording this, as he'd rather not look back at this moment in picture or video form, even though it would be written into the family tome at some point in time.
"That be true enough," Black Spot Pete said, once more making Sly wonder about his mind for a moment, as this couldn't be healthy for anyone to do for a long period of time, before he started to speak again, "but you're a Marooned, Toothless, Cabin boy."
"You are a Mumbling, Pus-faced, Sack o'maggots." Sly stated, though at the same time that was the last set of terms that the passage Bentley had found could offer him, so if there was another round to this than he was definitely screwed and they'd have to resort to other means to find what they were looking for.
"Cantankerous Tim, it must be you!" Black Spot Pete declared, though this time his tone was much friendlier than it had been when Sly and Carmelita came here together, which meant that he had succeeded in part of his mission and could get the information they needed, "Forgive this old Sea Dog and his sun burnt eyes for not recognizing you straight away. I've never met a man on land or sea that could curse half as well. Tell me, shipmate: why, after so long away, do you drop anchor now?"
"I've come for me share of the treasure we stole years ago from that Reme Lousteau fella." Sly replied, deciding to get right to the point this time around, as he had wasted enough time talking to Black Spot Pete and trading insults with him, because he wanted to know what they needed to do next.
"Twas a good haul, that! I speak of it while drunk often." Black Spot Pete stated, though at the same time that wasn't good news for Sly and the gang, but they all remained silent and let the pirate tell them his tale, "You and I, burying the loot in the belly of Dagger Isle. Aye, and many a year I kept the map to the treasure hidden, safe as a swaddling babe."
"Argh! Then let's have it! High time we dug up our retirement and lived as lords!" Sly stated, as this was what they were hoping for, the information to where Reme's treasure and gear had been buried, and they could easily knock out the pirate and leave him a portion of the treasure when they departed with what they came for.
"It shames me fierce to tell ye, shipmate, but I lost me galleon in a game of cards." Black Spot Pete said, though Sly had the feeling that the worst piece of news was about to come their way, and he could already hear Bentley coming up with an idea on what to do next, "And worse yet, the map was stolen by that terror, Captain LeFwee."
"What!?" Sly declared, this time staying in character, despite the fact that he wanted to drop out of it, before staring at the man that was giving them the information they needed, "I'd have run him through with my cutlass before givin' up so treasured a parchment!"
"This LeFwee's no ordinary buccaneer, no." Black Spot Pete said, his tone showing that there was some fear in him towards the new captain, who Sly felt lived in the fortress that was near their location, "He's earned the reputation as the smartest man on the Seven Seas. The devil lives in yonder keep... 'tis thre you'll find the map and your death as well. If you go for the treasure, shipmate, you go alone. Me sea-faring days are long behind me."
"Thank ya, Pete, you've been a good friend." Sly said, deciding that Black Spot Pete might as well spend the rest of his days remembering that Cantankerous Tim thought of him as a good friend and not whatever he had actually thought of him as, before he turned to leave.
"Aye, and you're still a skinny, malodorous, hairy-palmed, bottom-feeder." Black Spot Pete declared, though this time around he waved his cane in the goodbye sense as Sly jumped over the side of the balcony and headed for the safe house, while the rest of the gang followed after him.
When the gang regathered in their safe house Bentley reminded them that it was Reme Lousteau's treasure that they were after and that it was buried somewhere on Dagger Isle, a landmass that happened to be many leagues from their current position. In order for them to make the voyage out to the island, and not resort to magic and wing power, Bentley revealed that they were going to need to steal a pirate ship from the harbor, which wasn't going to be easy given the nature of the pirates they were dealing with. His plan started with Murray taking someone, like Sly or Carmelita, to steal a nearby jollyboat so they could blast the rudders off any ships that might chase them out into the open ocean, though that was sure to provoke the harbor patrol into a sea battle, which he was counting on. While they did that, however, Bentley also revealed that he, Penelope, and Clockwerk would break into LeFwee's keep, search it, and then steal the map to the buried treasure. Once both of those objectives had been taken care of, and everyone was ready to go, he told the gang that they were going to steal a ship and set sail for Dagger Isle, where all they had to do was follow the map and dig up the loot that Black Spot Pete and Cantankerous Tim had buried there... along with the gear that Dimitri was after.
In accordance to Bentley's plan of attack, doing both missions at the same time, Murray, Sly, and Derpy headed out for the jollyboat that he wanted them to steal and use against the ships that were around the harbor, while at the same time Bentley, Penelope, and Clockwerk headed out to prepare and launch her hover-spectrometer, a device that would help them figure out where LaFwee was hiding the map to Dagger Isle. Sure, that left the Panda King, Gilda, Diz, Carmelita, and the Guru without anything to do at the moment, but that meant that they could make sure that everything was ready for when they went out to steal the pirate ship that Bentley had his eyes set on. Fortunately the majority of the pirates that were patrolling the town at the moment were either getting drunk or had fallen asleep, meaning that there was fewer enemies for them to worry about, though when the first trio arrived at their destination they noticed that the jollyboat was as large as the boat that Murray had used back during the ACES Competition, meaning that it was large enough for two people, which wasn't a problem since Derpy could fly around the area with her wings. At the same time they noticed that the jollyboat was locked up, but it was a simple lock that Sly could take care of on his own, to which he left Murray and Derpy behind for a moment, allowing them to contact Bentley before they got underway.
On the other side of their binocucoms, however, they found Bentley and Clockwerk putting the finishing touches on what they were doing, indicating that they were getting close to launching the device into the air to figure out where the map was located, and only paused when one of them noticed the duo was checking in with them.
"Murray, I need you and Sly to blast the rudders off all the galleons in port." Bentley stated, knowing why the duo was calling him at the moment, allowing him to convey exactly what he needed them to do before they went and stole the ship he glanced out at, "With their boats disabled, the pirates won't be able to chase after us when we sail for Dagger Isle."
"What about those boats out there at anchor?" Murray asked, gesturing to the other ones that were already out in the water, ones that looked like they might be obstacles that one of them needed to take down, "They look ripe for a breaking... or a lightning bolt to the side."
"Don't worry about those boats." Bentley instructed, knowing that Murray might understand what he was saying while both Sly and Derpy will be able to watch over him and make sure he doesn't do anything to jeopardize the mission, or reveal their intentions before it was time, "The pirates won't have time to row out and get them rigged before we're gone. Besides, once you start shooting at those rudders, the harbor patrol is sure to show up."
"That sounds like a job for a man that has Murray's destructive habits." Derpy commented, though at the same time she flexed her hand and channeled a bit of lightning between her fingers, as she had to wonder what she could go in this mission, besides fly around and be a pest to those that were attacking them.
"That's correct." Bentley said, knowing that Derpy understood what he was talking about, even if she wasn't doing anything at the moment, before he glanced at Murray once more, "Murray, take out the harbor patrol and there will be no one left to chase after us when we 'appropriate' our chosen pirate boat."
Murray nodded his head as Sly undid the jollyboat that they would be taking for this mission, to which the two of them climbed onto the boat and Derpy watched as they rowed out into the harbor, where they started using the cannon on the boat to damage the rudders. It was rather easy for Murray to maneuver the jollyboat into position so Sly could target the rudders and blow them to pieces, though as the first one was fired upon they found that there were small floating sentries waiting for someone to try something, showing them that the pirates also used newer technology when it benefited them and their community. Of course a well placed shot destroyed each of the sentries, allowing Sly to blow the rudder he was targeting up so Murray could move them onto the next target, where they repeated the same actions several times before destroying the second rudder. It wasn't long before they moved onto their third and fourth targets, as those were all the rudders that Bentley wanted them to take out, and sure enough the harbor patrol moved into the area, where they discovered that the jollyboats their new enemies were using had more armor than their's did, so they needed to ram their targets and then blow them to pieces with a shot from the cannon.
Fortunately it didn't take Murray long to get a sense of the pattern that the pirates were using and soon all of their armor had been removed, along with their jollyboats sank, though that was when a larger ship, a cutter according to Bentley, showed up and moved into the harbor... only for Derpy, who had been idly gathering magical energy since she had been left standing on the dock, to blast the unguarded powder kegs that were exposed on the ship's deck, blowing the entire thing to pieces and completing the mission for them.
Once the harbor was secure, and many of the pirates slept through the sound of Derpy's lightning going off, Bentley and Penelope launched the device they had been preparing and sent it over the skull shaped fortress, only for one of the still awake pirates to blow it out of the sky and separate it into seven pieces that fell over the entire town. Clockwerk, as it turned out, suggested that they use Penelope's RC Car to find the pieces of the device and recover the information that had been on it before the pirate shot it down, something that both Bentley and Penelope agreed to once they heard what he had in mind. Since he was also sticking around in his miniature owl form, even if the bullets the pirates used wouldn't be able to harm him, the ancient owl followed after the RC Car and helped it take out the enemies that were in the way, knocking them out instead of outright killing them, all while Penelope gathered the information that she needed for their attack on the fortress. Bentley, on the other hand, was also receiving the information that Penelope and Clockwerk were gathering, putting together a picture of where their target might be located, and when the seventh piece of the device had been collected the ancient owl carefully grabbed onto the RC Car and flew off with it, returning it to Penelope without letting the pirates tear into it.
"I've figured out what we're looking for!" Bentley exclaimed, though that was when he carefully turned his computer around and showed the two of them the information that he had been sifting through, as they were the only other members of the gang that could understand what he was showing them, "There's a massive chest near the top east-facing windows. Let's go get the map to Dagger Isle and get out of here before the pirates find us."
Together the three of them made their way over to the entrance of the skull fortress, though upon their arrival near the drawbridge they discovered that LaFwee must have learned of the device's existence and had ordered the drawbridge be raised until further notice, as the only way across was to either use some floating boxes or go the long way around before coming back here.
"This LeFwee guy is really on it." Penelope commented, staring at the raised drawbridge for a moment, as this was an obstacle that none of them had been expecting their enemy to use, not in the short amount of time he had since his underling broke her device, "He must have seen the disc and raised all the bridges to the fort. There's no way in."
"Don't worry, we've dealt with guys like this before." Bentley stated, as he had learned something over the many years of traveling with Sly and his sisters, and all the information he had gained from their various heists only increased what he knew about the people they went after, "They can't really trust their own men, so they always keep an escape route handy. You just have to look around a little."
"Wow, Sly's really taught you and the others a lot." Penelope replied, as she had noticed several things while she observed the other members of the gang, and she knew that they were different from the other types of thieves that she had heard stories about.
That's true, he has taught us many lessons since we each joined the team. Clockwerk said, as he remembered that the first thing he learned was actually something that he should have known, that there was more to life than hatred, and he had learned several other things by watching the others as well, Everyone in this team has their own strengths and weaknesses, and the strengths of everyone else makes up for those weaknesses. Bentley and I are the brains, Murray is our brawn, Sly and his siblings are all field agents and master thieves, while Gilda, Derpy, and Diz are powerful magic users that can overcome whatever is thrown at them. Sly taught us a lot, that is true, but we also helped him out in our own various ways, helping him improve his life and made sure that everyone knew that the Cooper Clan was as honorable as the stories say we are.
Penelope looked like she wanted to say something, anything really, but she decided against it as Clockwerk made the decision for them, and that involved flying up to part of the drawbridge and forcefully lowered it into position, all while making it seem like the gears had malfunctioned so that LaFwee wouldn't know that someone had come by here. From there the three of them made their way to the backside of the fortress, where they found a few floating boxes in the water that would allow them to reach their target, before Bentley blew up some support beams to lower a walkway into position so they could reach the top of the fortress. What they found when they reached the top of the fortress was LaFwee talking to one of his guards, maybe his First Mate, though it was clear that the poor pirate had said something that he shouldn't have, as LaFwee turned around and stabbed the man right in his chest, directly where his heart was located, before shoving the body off into the water, where the sharks tore him apart. In the following moments he promoted the Second Mate to captain of the guard and told him that he'd be inside the fortress, torturing the prisoners from the last time they went out on the Seven Seas, before he disappeared into the keep... and that was when Clockwerk swooped in and smacked around all the pirates that were guarding the room that they needed to get into, allowing Bentley and Penelope to open it and let the three of them inside.
When they went to open the heavily guarded chest, however, Clockwerk insisted that they remain outside the small structure while he tampered with the chest, just in case it was set up to explode, but when he found was some dust that was designed to blind whoever opened the chest without the proper key that was stuck in the side of the metallic chest, but since his body was made of metal, and his eyes weren't like everyone else's, he got off without a scratch and soon they were headed back to the safe house for the next stage of their plan.
Once the three of them returned to the safe house Bentley had Sly, Carmelita, Gilda, Derpy, and Diz take to the field and head out for the ship that they would be taking, the one that happened to be a little further out in the harbor than the ones that Sly and Murray had destroyed the rubbers of. While there were only three guards on the ship, and five of them, the group was more than able to sneak up on their targets and knock them out, thanks to an invisibility spell that Diz used on all of them, and soon enough she had formed a bridge of wood and magic for the others to board the ship and even store away the van before the pirates discovered it. Once again Sly and the others weren't going to ask how Diz was able to hide the team van on a ship, but right now they were more than happy with her deeds as the last member of the team boarded the boat and stood on the deck, allowing her to break the magical bridge she had formed so they could finally set out for Dagger Isle. Oddly enough it was Murray at the wheel, though he remained focused as Sly and the others readied the rest of the ship, allowing them to make for the mouth of the harbor before the pirates even knew what was going on, but once that happened Sly pulled out the map and directed Murray towards their true destination.
As they headed out onto the water, however, Diz and Clockwerk managed to find several chests that were filled with gold, and somehow hadn't sunk to the bottom of the sea yet, and pulled them aboard to add to the loot that they already had to their name, just to add some pirate treasure to what they had taken so far.
It took them some time to reach Dagger Isle, only because going by an old fashioned boat was much slower than the one they had used to reach Blood Bath Bay in the first place, but eventually Murray reached the island they had been heading towards, thanks to Clockwerk and the others flying around and correcting their course as necessary. When they arrived, and the anchor was dropped, Sly and Carmelita stepped off the ship and touched down on the beach, as Bentley stated that Sly should head out and find the treasure while they guarded the ship, in case more pirates showed up, and Carmelita was going along to be his assistant in case something happened. The first clue that the map gave them, as there were written instructions on how to find the treasure added, was to 'stand before the statue's gaze to begin your walk along the treasure's maze', meaning that they needed to find a statue while avoiding the pirates and the large near-sighted lizards that called the island home as well. What surprised him was that it was easy to find the statue in question, since the pirates were guarding it on the other side of the island, and once they removed the surrounding enemies Sly stood in front of the statue and read the next clue, so they could figure out where the treasure was buried.
The following clue indicated that the holder of the map needed to take twelve paces in the direction that the statue was facing, to which the two of them counted out the steps that were needed and made their way back over the small bridge they had walked over to reach the statue. From there six paces were needed to advance in the direction of an 'x' that the map mentioned, which Carmelita spotted a few seconds later, and once they reached the point in question Sly discovered that the next clue wanted him to take eighteen more steps towards the circle of palm trees that the lizards were walking around. After that it was sixteen additional steps between the two large rocks that were nearby, as the map detailed it like they were a ship trying to avoid danger, which was followed by him needing to take thirteen paces towards a rock that had three palm trees growing on it, allowing them to touch down on another beach before reading the next clue, which required that they take six steps in the direction that the wrecked ship was facing, like they were heading back towards the statue for a moment. Since that was the last clue, and they were sure that they were in the right place, Bentley, Murray, Dimitri, and Penelope came out to assist Sly and Carmelita in digging for the loot, so they could get out of here once they had what they came for before LaFwee and his men found them.
It wasn't long before the assembled members of the gang found the treasure that Black Spot Pete had buried on Dagger Isle, as the chest was actually really close to the surface of the beach, which revealed that the pirate must not have had a lot of time to bury it when he was last here, but that meant that they were able to get the chest out of the ground easily and stood back for a moment.
"Well, Dimitri, it's your loot." Sly commented, gesturing to the chest that they had been searching for since they arrived in Blood Bath Bay, even though they needed the map to find it in the first place, before the rest of the gang that was around them nodded their heads in agreement to what he was going to say, "I think you should have the honor."
"I open with joy. You Cooper Gang is a tight groove." Dimitri replied, showing that, in his own way, he was happy that they were able to find what he had been searching for, even if it meant going up against the pirates of Blood Bath Bay to recover what was his, before he turned to the chest and opened it, where a smile appeared on his face as he stared at the contents of the chest, "Van Gogh Bullseye! The primo diving gear to accentuate my deep-down diving style!"
"It's so intricate." Penelope said, staring at the diving suit that was inside the chest, because she had never seen anything like it before, at least in terms of the subject matter, and she knew that the others were staring at the items they had been after as well, "Your grandfather was an artist. I've never seen such fine craftsmanship."
"He had the juice, check it!" Dimitri stated, showing that he still adored his grandfather and his stories, though now he was happy to have part of his family's history back where it belonged, something that he would be eternally grateful for and that he would never forget, "The gear even matches my suit! I can dance, dive and accessorize!"
"I wonder what else is in this chest." Murray added, as he knew that Black Spot Pete had been the one to bury the treasure that they had dug up, which meant that the real treasure, all the gold, had to be beneath the diving suit that Dimitri was pocketing at the moment.
"Aye, let's get a good look!" a voice said, though that was when the gang turned around and found LaFwee, complete with a number of armed pirates standing behind him and a blade held close to Penelope's neck, standing behind them, and that Penelope was frightened, "Avast, lubbers! Didn't think ye could steal from the smartest man on the Seven Seas and not taste the repercussions! Har, har, har! I might have been late for the opening of the chest, but I'm just on time for the stealing of the gold!"
"Let Penelope go." Carmelita stated, as she knew that right now they were outmatched, especially with their magic users and Clockwerk still aboard the ship, but she was hoping that they might be able to get away with this and not have to do any intense work to save someone, "We can work out a deal."
"Penelope be the lass's name?" LaFwee commented, though that didn't stop him from studying her for a moment and, to Bentley's anger, took a second to actually sniff her hair before turning to face them again, "Purdy as a sonnet, and what a rich, sweet scent from the wench's hair."
"Guys, we can't fight him right now... he'll hurt her." Bentley said, though while every fiber in his being wanted one of the others to come and deck the entire pirate gang right now, and save Penelope, he knew that the smart move was to retreat and then take LaFwee down, "This guy's a killer."
"Aye, ye summed me up with but a word... killer." LaFwee replied, though his tone indicated that he was pleased that one of them knew exactly what he was, but that was before he grew serious and stared at them, "Away with ye, back to your ship. This gold is mine now, or her death is yours... take yer choice."
"Penelope, do what he says... and stay alive." Bentley said, though at the same time the members of the gang that had assembled here started making their way back towards the ship, so they could properly plan out how they were going to ruin LaFwee and his men, before making her a promise he knew they would keep, "We will save you."
Penelope nodded her head as some of the pirates hauled her back to their ship, complete with the treasure that they had stolen from the Cooper Gang since they were forced to retreat without risking her life, and she knew that LaFwee was in danger of defeat... all she had to do was stay alive and wait for them to come rescue her, and then they could get out of here before anything else happened to them.
Bentley knew that the rest of the gang was going to be pissed off once he, Sly, Carmelita, and Murray returned to the ship and told them LaFwee had not only ambushed them and taken the rest of Black Spot Pete's treasure, but also forced them to surrender Penelope, for fear of killing her if they went at him. His calculations were correct, everyone else, even those that barely knew her, were pissed off and the three magic users had to take some deep breaths to avoid a meltdown, as they were tired of things like this happening to their friends and family, something that he agreed with. Even Clockwerk, who saw her as an intelligent person that he could have a meaningful conversation with, much like he could with Bentley, was annoyed by what had happened, though he remained silent and stared out the side of the ship, no doubt thinking about what he'd do to LaFwee when they caught him. Once they had calmed down, and were willing to listen to his plan, he revealed that LaFwee and his ship, the Death's Head, had no doubt set sail back to Blood Bath Bay, meaning that they were going to have to fight their foe in that area and that meant that they needed a plan of attack to outsmart their enemy and recover Penelope.
The plan was simple, as the first thing they were going to do was set sail for some shipwrecks and salvage enough cannon blast amplification collars to outfit the rest of their cannons, as they would be useful in the eventually fight against LaFwee's ship and the other targets that Bentley had in mind. Once the collars were secured, and firmly attached to all of their cannons, the next stage of his plan was for them to set sail for the location of a ship that sailed the colors of the Red Sail Sea Dog Clan, a group of mercenaries that apparently worked for LaFwee, and he stated that ambushing them in small groups would ensure their victory. Murray asked the question of why they didn't just lure them all into a single area and let Gilda, Derpy, Diz, and Clockwerk go to town on them with both their magic and the ancient owl's weapons, and Bentley revealed that if it turned out that they were in one group, which was highly unlikely, then that was the plan that they were going to go with, once more telling them that he was quick to come up with these ideas. Once the Red Sail Sea Dog Clan was taken care of they were going to sail to the misty waters near Blood Bath Bay and see if they could find a creature that the local pirates called 'Crusher', something that everyone that was under LaFwee's command feared... which would make it a valuable ally in the upcoming fight, if the creature was even real.
Once they knew what they were doing the gang assumed their positions throughout the ship once more and got underway, where Murray, following Bentley's map and Sly's directions, was able to navigate them over to the shipwrecks that they were going to loot, while at the same time Gilda and Derpy stood at the top of the mast to keep an eye out for any enemies that might come at them... giving Dimitri enough time to suit up before joining Bentley on the beach of the area he wanted them to come to.
"You all set with your gear?" Bentley asked, though based on how Dimitri looked, as he had squeezed into the suit and, against all odds, he managed to fit without wrecking it, making him wonder what sort of material it was made out of, as that reminded him of Clockwerk's metallic body.
"Got the gear, got the macho swimsuit, got more juice than you'll ever know! Whah! I'm a hit single with a bullet!" Dimitri replied, once more showing that his old personality was still alive, despite the fact that he was allied with the Cooper Gang for this venture and the one that he'd be able to help them with, before he noticed a look on Bentley's face, one that he wanted to squish immediately, "Look, time is of the essence, so come at me with some turtle talk and let's get down to business."
"Your objective is beyond the reef." Bentley stated, though as he spoke Clockwerk, still in his miniature state, flew down and landed on the nearby washed up log, allowing him to stare at them as he dropped the collar that he had taken from the inside of the ship, to give Dimitri an idea of what he was looking for, "We're looking for some more of these cannon blast amplification collars. We'll move the boat above the wreck and lower a basket for you to drop 'em into."
"Cool, bro." Dimitri said, taking a moment to study the item that he would be searching for, as he was planning on grabbing all of the collars that were down there before he came back up to join them, before turning around and headed towards the entrance that he was after, "I'll cop the collars and spice up your basket big time."
Bentley nodded and returned to the ship, with Clockwerk hauling the blast collar back to where he had taken it from, and they moved the ship into position as Dimitri went off in search of the shipwreck that he wanted them to loot, where he dropped the basket and waited for the signal that the objective had been found. It took Dimitri a few moments to find what he was searching for, though when he did that Bentley informed him that there were six cannons on their ship that were missing a blast collar and that he should try to find as many as he could before they finished up here. Dimitri confirmed his statement and started swimming around the shipwreck, allowing Bentley and Clockwerk some time to start applying the collars they had to four of the cannons, before the sound of Dimitri dropping his findings into the basket could be heard over their binocucoms. Fortunately, despite the fact that he was new to the whole scuba thing, the gang found that Dimitri must have inherited the same skills that his grandfather used before he was caught, as it wasn't long before he had recovered all the blast collars he could find, six in total, and Murray hauled the basket up so Bentley and Clockwerk could finish their modifications to their cannons.
While that happened Clockwerk revealed that in order for them to make full use of the blast collars they were going to need the bones of the hammerhead sharks that were in the area and, based on his own memories from the time of Sly's pirate ancestor, Henriette 'One-Eyed' Cooper, told Dimitri that if he could catch some yellow dart fish he'd be able to attract the sharks, making it easier for him to get the bones that they needed. Of course those bones needed to be grounded up before they were any good, but fortunately he'd be able to make short work of the bones that Dimitri brought them, meaning that they wouldn't have to spend a great deal of time here once they got what they needed. It took Dimitri a few minutes to track down enough yellow dart fish to draw in the hammerhead sharks, though that was when the real challenge began and they could tell, just from Dimitri's tone, that he was having a blast and didn't seem too concerned for his own safety, as he was taking the fight to his enemies and collecting all the bones that he could recover, even if that meant making many trips to do so.
The moment Dimitri had killed all the hammerhead sharks in the area, and he was sure that there weren't any he had missed, he finished hauling the bones into the basket and let them be pulled up to the deck, as he had acquired more than enough to outfit all of their cannons for a long time and, as a bonus, the Panda King confirmed that mixing some of the bone into his own explosives added an extra kick that would really surprise whoever he was fighting.
From there Bentley had them sail to the first sighting of a ship that belonged to the Red Sail Sea Dog Clan, where the gang took up their positions as Murray turned the ship and Sly fired the empowered cannons, starting a battle with the ship that they had come to destroy. Their foe clearly wasn't expecting them to be under attack in any way, shape, or form, and the power of their empowered cannons tore through the mast and essentially reduced the ship to a state where it couldn't move at all, to which Murray grinned as he drew close to it and the Cooper Family, meaning Sly, Carmelita, Gilda, Derpy, and Diz crossed over to the other ship and started beating up the crew members before forcing the captain to come aboard the deck. From there it was a simple matter for the five of them to overpower the captain and knock him to the deck, where Sly grabbed the map detailing where the other members of the Red Sail Sea Dog Clan were supposed to be as the rest of the gang hauled off anything that was of value, meaning addition cannonballs, all the barrels of gunpowder, and whatever treasure that was hidden below deck, before they sunk the ship and moved on to the location of their next target.
The next area they attacked had three members of the Red Sail Sea Dog Clan, as in three ships that weren't ready for their assault, and instead of sinking all of them right away Sly made sure that they damaged their enemies enough to destroy their masts and stop them dead in the water. From there they took a few minutes to personally assault each ship, taking out the captain and his men before plundering the ship of it's treasure and supplies, thus allowing it to sink into the water and be lost from their memory, and then moved on to the next ship in the line. It wasn't long before they took care of the three ships and sank each of them, while making sure to grab what was on each of them, before Murray set sail towards the final location on the map that they had acquired, where the gang found the remaining four members of the Red Sail Sea Dog Clan minding their own business, meaning that they were sitting ducks as Sly fired at the first one and knocked out it's sails. The ensuing battle was different from the previous ones, as Gilda and Diz used their powers to knock the enemy cannonballs out of the air and dropped them into the water around them, while at the same time Derpy called forth the lightning and started blasting holes in the ships that were around them, avoiding the gunpowder barrels so she didn't blow any of them up before they were ready to take their loot.
Once all four members of the Red Sail Sea Dog Clan were defenseless the gang repeated the process and looted everything that was valuable that happened to be aboard each ship, before sinking them and moving towards the area that was near Blood Bath Bay, as it was time to see if Crusher was real or not... though when they arrived at the area in question, however, Diz expanded a little more of her power and separated the masts from their ship, storing them on one of the large rocks that rested nearby, keeping them safe until it was time to return them.
"These deep misty waters are said to be home to the monster." Bentley said, though at the same time he, Sly, Gilda, Derpy, Diz, and the Panda King stood on the deck, as the others were below deck, making sure that the ship was fine in case they found their target, "Keep a sharp eye out."
"Sorry, Bentley, but I can't see a thing in this fog." Sly stated, as they were able to see the immediate area around their ship, but that was as good as it was going to get at the moment, unless Gilda used her powers again, "If your sea monster is here, there's no way we'll find him."
"It's imperative we track it down and discover why the pirates fear it so vehemently." Bentley replied, to which he turned towards Gilda for a moment, as her powers were exactly what they needed at the moment, and the look on her face told him that she sensed that as well, "Gilda, do you think you can use your power to move the fog or get rid of it, so we'll have an easier time spotting the creature?"
"Shouldn't be too hard for me to do som..." Gilda started to say, thought that was when the ship rocked and they spotted several tendrils, like those from an octopus, or a kraken, erupted from the water around them, informing them that their target had sensed their arrival and had come to attack them.
"The sea monster is upon us!" the Panda King declared, to which he turned towards Sly and Bentley for a moment, where he pointed to the grate that would allow them to head below deck, where the others were located, "Go below deck and placate the others. I will confront this creature with your sisters and my firework artistry!"
"Give a shout if you need any back up." Sly replied, though at the same time he had the feeling that with three known magic users, all equally powerful in their own right, and the Panda King, whose explosive fireworks were deadly and he had some skill in the art of fire magic, wouldn't need his help, "I'll stand ready."
As Sly and Bentley moved below deck, however, the group that remained on the deck started blasting the tentacles that emerged from the water, each of them facing a different direction and making sure that they didn't miss, which was hard to do when their targets weren't moving all that much. It only took them a minute or two to force Crusher's head to emerge from the water, where it started firing flaming boulders at them, which Diz took care of by warping them all into the water around them, thus allowing the others to focus on blast the beast with everything they had. After a few moments of that happening Crusher dropped below the water again and started to wrap his tentacles around the ship's deck, trying to pull them into the depths and kill them in the old fashioned way, to which the group changed targets and started attacking the tentacles, knocking them off the ship and preventing them from being dragged under the water, as that was something they were planning on avoiding. After that failed Crusher raised his head once more and repeated the second stage of his tactics, firing flaming boulders at them, but this time he included tentacles that tried to squish them, causing the three magic users to take to the air and continue what they were doing as the Panda King focused on his own target... though he was sure that the four of them were more than enough for the beast to handle, especially with his newly empowered fireworks and the power that the three siblings commanded on their own.
Eventually Crusher revealed his face, or at least his eyes since he didn't actually have a face, and continued his assault as the group struck at him, though when his tentacles latched onto the deck they smacked them, where they remained fastened to the ship for a couple of minutes. That allowed them to pull Crusher in when he tried to latch a good number of tentacles onto the deck, where Sly, who had come up to see how the battle was going, decided to fire a volley of cannonballs into the kraken's eye, weakening it further and pushed their foe backwards. It happened twice more, where Crusher tried to latch onto their ship and they used his own tentacles to drag him up to the cannons so they could fire into his eyes, though once they did that a third time he remained in front of them and looked like the fight had left him for the moment, revealing that they were victorious... especially since the Panda King was declaring that this was a glorious battle, one worthy of the names Cooper and King, showing them that the Cooper line was more important than his right now. As they stared at their defeated foe the Guru climbed out of the area below deck and approached the creature, as the goal of this venture was to see if Crusher existed and if he might be of use to them when they attacked Blood Bath Bay.
"Say, Guru, could you get inside this creature's mind?" Bentley asked, gesturing to the wounded creature for a few seconds, though while he did that he noticed that Diz was reversing the spell she had used on the masts and was now putting them back where they belonged.
The Guru placed a hand on one of Crusher's tentacles, one that happened to be resting on the deck of the ship at the moment, and thought about what Bentley had told him earlier, in case they were successful, before he started sending them the images and feelings associated with what he felt.
"That's why we came here." Bentley said, knowing exactly what the Guru was afraid of, but with his power he should be able to gain some control over Crusher, enough to last them for the duration of their final mission before they let the poor creature free to do whatever it wanted.
The Guru spent a few moments channeling his power towards Crusher, just like he did when Sly and Clockwerk were going into the Panda King's mind, and Crusher's eyes snapped open a few seconds later, where he disappeared into the water and grabbed the Guru as well... though Bentley told the rest of the gang that this was all part of their plan, and that he'd know when their friend was ready to make a move with their new ally.
By the time that Bentley got the signal from the Guru that he and Crusher were ready to go, and get the rescue operation underway, he had given the gang the information they needed so they could save Penelope and fool LaFwee at the exact same time. Once everyone was ready to go Murray steered the ship back towards Blood Bath Bay, and the Guru made sure that Crusher was following from a safe distance so they could be ready for what happened next, giving the others some time to relax before the operation started. Bentley was sure that this plan was going to work, even if it turned out that LaFwee was hiding Penelope in the Death Head's hold and not his Skull Keep, because his plan was designed to figure out where the trick was located, spring it, and then save Penelope. Clockwerk even stated that it was going to be a challenging operation for all of them, since they would be dealing with pirates that would be looking for an excuse to kill them, and Bentley even agreed with him, before stating that this was the best plan that they could have come up with and if they didn't act soon then they might as well kiss Penelope goodbye.
It wasn't long before they drew close to their destination, causing the gang to rush to their battle stations as they moved into Blood Bath Bay again, where Sly and Carmelita easily spotted the Death's Head sitting in the middle of the harbor, though that was followed by the two ships engaging in a small battle with each other, where Diz made sure that the enemy cannonballs didn't do major damage to their ship... though once they managed to tear LaFwee's masts down, and stalled him, Murray brought their ship close and let Sly jump over to the enemy vessel as he moved into position for the next phase of the plan.
"Really, Cooper, a bad choice boarding a ship packed with over a hundred pirates." LaFwee said, though at the same time he smiled as he stared at the leader of the Cooper Gang, someone that he wasn't afraid of, despite the many tasks and deeds that were attached to his name, "Sure your cane is up to the task of crackin' all our skulls?"
"I don't know about all of you, but yours I'm sure it can manage!" Sly replied, to which he held his cane out for a moment, showing LaFwee and his men that he wasn't scared of them, not with all the stuff he had put up with since he, his sisters, and his best friends left that orphanage, "Besides, if I can take out Clockwerk, the bane of my family, I'm sure that I can beat all of you."
"Bah, restrain this man and keep yer distance from the enemy vessel." LaFwee stated, showing Sly that he cared not for his deeds or his words, instead he preferred to be done with him so that he could seize the ship that had been stolen from him and see what they did to it, "This smells of lubber trickery. Take heart, boys, been a long time since we witnessed the good plank-walkin'."
Sly found that LaFwee's men seemed to think twice about restraining him, because despite being pirates they knew the name Clockwerk and feared it, just like they feared Crusher, and they seemed worried about their chances, but it was also clear that they were afraid of dying and he simply moved to the plank so he could get the show on the road... and see just how far he could push LaFwee until he unwillingly gave up the information that they were after.
"You're making me 'walk the plank'?" Sly asked, deciding that now, while they were standing in front of the majority of LaFwee's crew, that it was time to put Bentley's plan into action, as the others were definitely in position, especially since Murray was below the plank with the jollyboat, ready to move the moment he figured out where Penelope was supposedly hidden, "You're the pinnacle of creativity, LeFwee."
"Not creative?!" LaFwee snapped, clearly showing that Sly had struck a nerve, one of the things that he and his family were well known for these days, and yet, despite how smart he was, LaFwee was taking the bait, "I'm the Smartest Man on the Seven Seas, you... slanderous scabbard!"
"I've got to say, you've got a real knack for pirate talk." Sly replied, taking a few steps back, to show that he knew his place in this situation, but at the same time he was more than ready to push his opponent's buttons again, especially since 'slanderous scabbard' was worse than what he and Black Spot Pete were doing earlier, "Put two nonsense words together and POW - scary pirate name calling!"
"Bah! Yah might be quick with the put downs, but who's got the hidden girl, huh?" LaFwee stated, coming to the topic that Sly and the gang wanted him to talk about, despite it being a little sooner than what Bentley was initially anticipating, but this was better than what he had been hoping for, "Me! And you'll never find her!"
"Oh, I'm not worried about Penelope." Sly said, to which he smiled for a moment, as while he was sure that this statement wasn't true at the moment he knew that Penelope could make it true if she stuck with them, "A girl tough as that would free herself by tomorrow morning, then come and steal your wallet!"
"Ha! That chick-a-dee will never escape my Skull Keep. She's locked up in irons and there she stays until she agrees to love me, despite all my faults." LaFwee stated, reminding Sly of what they went through with General Tsao, how he wanted to force Jing King to love him, and that made Sly want to punch him so badly right now, before he focused on Sly once more and raised his cutlass, "Now, be the time sharks lunched on yer parts!"
"You're the captain." Sly replied, to which he took another step back and walked off the plank, only to drop into the jollyboat and let Murray get them out of there, though it took LaFwee a few seconds to realize that he had been right, that they had been trying to play him, before the alarm went off... and yet, despite what LaFwee thought, they weren't heading to Skull Keep, Clockwerk was.
While Murray and Sly covertly headed back to the ship, which was heading towards the mouth of the harbor for the final stage of Bentley's plan, Clockwerk flew up to the eye socket of the Skull Keep and entered the area that Penelope was supposed to be hiding in, only to find that a fake creation that resembled her was resting there, one that exploded when he turned it around. Fortunately, due to the unique makeup of his armored body, where the only weaknesses it had were electric shots from a shock pistol and magic itself, he was unharmed by the attack and flew out of the keep the moment the trap was sprung, to which he dived into the water and started to change his shape. While that happened Diz played along and used a spell to hide the masts when Bentley reached the location that was the final stage of the plan, to which it appeared that the ship stalled due to some internal damage and LaFwee was more than happy to come up and declare that they were all going to die by his blade... only for Bentley to reveal their hand as the Guru, riding on top of Crusher's head, erupted from the water behind LaFwee's boat, scaring all of his men and shocking their foe in the process.
"Yah might have Crusher, but I still have the girl!" LaFwee stated, showing that he knew that they couldn't do anything to the ship, so long as Penelope was still his hostage, and he was banking on using that to his advantage, all while failing to hear the metallic claws touch down behind him.
Not anymore. Clockwerk replied, though as LaFwee turned around, with a slightly terrified look on his face as he realized that the ancient owl was actually real and not just a legend, Clockwerk latched onto the grate above the hold and pulled it off the ship, destroying the bolts keeping it in place, and allowing Penelope, who was now wearing a dress of some kind, to pull herself out of the area she had been trapped in.
"Stay away from my pirate flo..." LaFwee started to say, though that was before Penelope punched him in the side of the jaw and knocked him to the floor of the deck, where he remained for a few moments without getting up, giving the gang time to get their ship back in order, and claim the rest of the treasure that Dimitri's grandfather had lost, before they started to sail out of the area... but not before Penelope turned to watch as Gilda, Derpy, and Diz loosed a combined energy blast at the side of the Death's Head, blowing the entire ship, and LaFwee, to pieces.
As they sailed out of Blood Bath Bay, and ignored the fact that Dimitri was happy with himself and proclaiming that he was now the frogman of the Cooper Gang, Bentley and Penelope headed to one of the rooms below deck to get her back into her old gear and clothing... and, from the sounds of it, she was impressed that he had outsmarted the 'Smartest Man on the Seven Seas', meaning that he might have finally gotten himself a girlfriend at long last. At the same time, however, Sly, his siblings, and Carmelita stood on the deck as the Guru joined the rest of the gang, after freeing Crusher, as they knew that they were ready to assault Kaine Island and defeat Dr. M... and claim what was rightfully theirs in the process.
As the gang sailed away from Blood Bath Bay, and headed towards Kaine Island, Bentley revealed the plan that he, Clockwerk, and Penelope had worked together to create, as well as several back up ideas that would allow them to bypass a number of obstacles that were around the island. The plan was simple; they were going to dock the ship behind some rocks and avoid being detected, where Sly and Carmelita would make their way to what appeared to be the main docking area for Dr. M's own ships, before using the path the trio had selected, thus allowing the others to assist them along the way, if they needed assistance. Everyone was, for the most part, going to be given codenames for this operation, just in case someone was listening to their frequency when they reached their destination, and both Sly and Carmelita, since they would be heading towards the Vault together, were going to be called 'the Ball'. It looked like a good plan, the best they could have come up with given the time and resources that were available to them at the moment, and the duo soon found that the gang was in agreement with all the ideas that had been laid on the table. In addition to all of them, and all that they had with them, Penelope arranged for the gangs biplanes to be brought out to them, where Diz stored them inside the ship with his chaotic magic... something that they simply went along with and didn't question.
Despite the fact that only two of them were going to be making their way to the Vault, and figure out how they were supposed to open the door if Dr. M wasn't able to do that with the number of years he had to drill and set up his fortress, everyone agreed that the original gang, meaning Sly, Bentley, Murray, Derpy, Gilda, Diz, and Carmelita, would be the first ones inside the Vault, allowing the others to clean up the rest of the defenses and defeat Dr. M.
When they arrived at Kaine Island, and docked the ship in the area that Bentley and the others deemed appropriate, Sly and Carmelita headed out for the other dock while the rest of the gang moved into position, making sure that they were ready to clear their own objectives when Bentley called for them to do something. As such Sly and Carmelita moved through the area and knocked out a few guards in the process, before coming to an area in front of a wall that allowed them to pause and make sure that everyone was ready, including Gilda, Derpy, and Diz, but once everyone confirmed that they were ready the duo moved forward and continued on their way. It wasn't long before they reached their first obstacle, as there were guard posts in the way and Penelope sent in her RC Chopper to dislodge them, allowing the duo to continue forward as she removed the second and third one, showing that her skills were exactly what she had claimed when she was chatting with Bentley before the ACES Competition. That was followed by the Guru finding a random guard and rammed him into the radio tower that would serve as the walkway for Sly and Carmelita to get closer to the lab that Clockwerk had discovered in his study of the fortifications, back when he was scanning the place, before they found something else that needed to be removed. The Panda King, hearing that the duo needed assistance, launched a powerful firework into the air and knocked down the metal cage that Sly wanted him to take out, smashing open the path into the lab and allowing the duo to continue down into the area that would take them to the vault.
After arriving in the lab, and smashing through a fan to do so, Dimitri showed them that he had found what Bentley has asked him to find, as he fired on the exterior targets and deactivated the laser walls that happened to be blocking their path, but as they reached the top of the elevator, however, they paused as Dr. M and one of his guards walked onto it and started talking as they moved towards the top of the tower... though while they weren't happy with Dr. M, as he ended up killing the guard for not changing the code from '1-2-3', they gladly took the information.
When they reached the top of the tower Dr. M had to go back down into the lab, as part of Dimitri's goal was to cause water to fill the lab and distract their enemy, and it seemed to work as the elevator went back down as Sly and Carmelita jumped off it, allowing them to go across the wire walkway to get close to the Vault door. Unfortunately, when they were close to their target, they somehow triggered the alarm and were forced to run faster as they reached the area that the combination lock was located in, where Sly input the code and turned off the alarm, as well as pulled the drills off the door and opened the way for them to approach it. It was in that moment, however, that Sly and Carmelita noticed that the large golden door had a slot where a Cooper Cane could be placed for a moment, and more like the one that Sly carried since the other four had different dimensions than his did, but that was when he slipped his cane into the slot and heard the sound of something unlocking as the door started to unlock before their eyes... only for Dr. M to arrive, via some sort of flying device that was attached to his head, and fire a powerful bolt of power at the door from the same device, forcefully closing the door before he turned on Sly and Carmelita.
The gang heard Dr. M declare that, because he owned the deed to this island, a deed that Sly reminded him that he stole from his father's will, that Sly and his gang was trespassing and that the key to the Cooper Vault, the one thing that he was missing, now belonged to him as well, something that he demanded Sly hand over before he contacted the authorities and had them arrested, even though the gang knew that such a thing would never happen. Bentley showed up behind Dr. M and loosed a dart into the device that allowed him to fly, allowing Sly and Carmelita to follow after him as they made their way back into the lab and out through the tunnel they had used to get into the tower that let them get near the Vault door. Somehow Dr. M had enough time to detach himself from the damaged device that Bentley had hit, make his way to something that was entirely different, and drop down in the area that was between them and where the ship was located, revealing a large mutated monster that was resistance to a large deal of pain and Sly even used his cane to force open the creature's mouth, before it tossed the cane out into the water and grabbed onto him with the intent to crush him as the others worked to save him.
It was in the following moments that Derpy, commanding the power of the lightning, flew into the area and surprised Dr. M by channeling several powerful bolts of lightning into the creature's head, forcing the mad scientist to detach from the creature and flee as the monster fell to the ground, before Bentley, Carmelita, and Derpy carried Sly back to the ship so he could rest and recover from what happened to him, while they focused on getting his cane back and figuring out how to get back to the Vault door.
As it turned out the cane happened to attach to an electromagnet buoy that was out in the water, preventing many members of the gang from actually doing anything because of their metallic gear and Diz, being the only one that could use any sort of magic that might help them, told Bentley that she coudn't just grab the cane while the buoy was still active, meaning that this task fell to the Guru. The plan was simple, the Guru was going to take control of the local sharks and lead them to the buoy, where they would attack the device and force the cane off of it, though since Dr. M had filled a good portion of the water with mines, which Diz had moved to prevent their ship from being hurt, he would need to dodge the mines and get the sharks to their destination. Once that happened, however, Bentley, Penelope, and Clockwerk knew that the cane would fly into the water, meaning that it would be up to Dimitri to recover the cane once the buoy was offline, to which he acknowledged the orders and prepared himself foe when it was his turn to take to the field, while at the same time the Guru headed off and started persuading the sharks to assist them.
As the Guru worked with the sharks, and made sure to get them to his target, Diz used her own chaotic powers and tried to channel a more healing aspect of them, but she quickly found out that her power wasn't suited for this sort of thing, to which they simply stayed near Sly and made sure that he was healed before anything happened.
"We're lucky Derpy acted as quickly as she had, otherwise Sly might have ended up with a concussion," Carmelita said, standing near Bentley as they watched the Guru work his magic, though the reason she wasn't with Sly was because she was more focused on getting back at Dr. M for what he had done.
"Dr. M is smarter than what we gave him credit for," Bentley added, as he wasn't expecting the mutated monsters that the mandrill was responsible for creating, so he didn't have to pay a substantial amount of money while he was getting nothing from the Vault, despite the fact that he had ordinary guards as well, "We need to be careful from this point forward, as he's likely to go after the cane as well, and there's no telling what sort of creatures he's prepared in case someone tries to break into his fortress, like we just did."
Carmelita opened her mouth to say something, but then stopped when the Guru brought the final pack of sharks to the buoy and caused the entire thing to tear itself apart, flinging him back towards the ship, and landing safely on the deck, while at the same time throwing the cane into the water, where Dimitri pulled his mask on and dived for it. The rest of the gang listened as Dimitri chased after the cane, through the passage that it was being pulled through, and then informed them that Dr. M knew that they would have dislodged the cane from where it was stuck, as he was now standing in front of Dimitri, using an underwater monster of his own design that also allowed him to breathe without the same gear that their friend was using, and seemed in the mood to kill someone. Since they couldn't actually see the monster this time around, as they hadn't had the time to outfit Dimitri's suit with a camera for taking pictures or shooting videos, they put their faith in Dimitri and listened as Dr. M insulted him and offered him a position on his payroll, as it he believed that he was actually going to be able to open the Cooper Vault and claim what wasn't his, while also letting them know that he was in possession of Sly's cane right now. Fortunately for them Dimitri, despite his lack of skill, once again proved that he was a natural with the scuba gear, as he was able to outmaneuver the monster that he was fighting and pushed Dr. M into a corner, where he was eventually forced to detach from the creature, as it tore itself apart and died, before fleeing to the surface... where the gang could hear him proclaim that they might control the water, but he controlled the skies.
Something that offset the terribleness of losing the cane to Dr. M was that Sly, despite his injuries, was up and about, as he said that he felt fine and was ready for anything, though Carmelita insisted that he get a few more minutes of rest, especially since Bentley and Penelope were in the process of using one of the Panda King's fireworks to launch her newly upgraded RC Car onto a drone patrol pipe... where she intended on hunting down the drone, stealing their power from their smashed bodies, and then use that power to fry the targeting matrix of the guided missiles that were around the fortress, where Clockwerk was the one who gave them that information once more.
Penelope smiled as her RC Car took to the field once more, touching down on the patrol pipe that was the start of the three towers she needed to take out, and she immediately started hunting down the drones that she needed to take out, using the newly added bumper feature on the sides of the tires to knock the drones into submission before she siphoned their energy into her vehicle. Once she had enough power from the first group of drones, and Bentley confirmed it by lowering the jump gate with a command from his computer, Penelope sent her RC Car flying through the air and used the power to tear through the first of her three targets, before landing on the next patrol pipe and starting all over again on a whole new track. From there it was only a matter of minutes before she had gathered a second batch of siphoned energy and used the second jump ramp to fly into the air, smashing the second target to pieces, before she landed on the third patrol pipe and started hunting down the remaining drones so she could knock out the guided missiles, as they would threaten the next stage of their plan... and it wasn't long before she let her RC Car sail through the air and smash through her final target, allowing the vehicle to return to the ship without a hint of damage on it.
Bentley then revealed that, with the towers taken out, that they had the chance for air superiority and had Diz bring out the biplanes, allowing Sly and Carmelita, their pilots, to take to the air as Gilda flew along with them, because since she was gifted with the power over wind she'd be able to help them quite easily. Their targets were the sensors on the missile turrets, which would only be exposed after a missile was fired, so they'd have to avoid the incoming attacks and then fire at their target, but since there were three of them, and only fourteen targets, it was a simple matter for Sly, Carmelita, and Gilda to take out the sensors before the turrets even knew what hit them. That was followed by a large squad of shielded bat like creatures, another of Dr. M's creations most likely, that took to the skies and attacked them, but Bentley informed both Sly and Carmelita that they weren't useless in this might, as they had a newly added missile feature that would be able to assist them in taking out these enemies, while Gilda could just sharpen her Wind Blades and tear through them since magic was something that Dr. M had clearly never encountered before. Once the three of them had taken care of those creatures, however, was when the last airborne threat came to attack them, as in the large whale-dragonfly hybrid that was covered in robotic parts... and, as they found out when he started calling out to them in a mocking tone, Dr. M was also plugged into the monstrosity and was heading for the Vault door with the cane.
As it turned out Dr. M had the monster firing seeker rounds at them, which were painful if they let one of them fire their missiles at them, to which Sly and Carmelita took turns exchanging targets, as Sly would start with Dr. M and Carmelita would fire at the seekers, before changing it up every so often. Gilda, on the other hand, followed after them and eventually grew tired of the seeker missiles being used against her family, to which she used the wind around her and started hacking apart the seekers before they had a chance to open up, before landing on the monster's back and started tearing apart the pieces that were allowing to to do what it was doing. Fortunately, even though it hadn't been her intention to do this, Gilda's attacks caused Dr. M to come up and see what was going on, to which he took a blast of wind to the face and was knocked off the monster that he had been plugged into, but not before Gilda was able to reclaim the item that they had been fighting over.
"Sly! I've got your cane!" Gilda said over the binocucom, which was also tied into the communications for the biplanes, though at the same time she turned her hand and knocked the creature out of the sky, causing it to crash into the other side of the island, opposite of the side that the ship was on, and she flew off towards the Vault door as Sly and Carmelita jumped out of their seats and followed after her with their paragliders, allowing Penelope to seize control of the biplanes and safely touch them down before they were damaged.
"Thanks for catching it." Sly replied, though once he, Carmelita, and Gilda touched down in front of the Vault door he was reunited with his cane, before he turned towards the large golden door in front of them and knew what they were going to do, "Well then, I guess it's time to meet the past."
"Don't worry Sly, we're on our way!" Murray called out, reminding them that the rest of the original gang, and that even included Clockwerk, were coming to join them so they could see what was inside the Vault, though at the same time Sly smiled and opened the Vault door, allowing it to separate into two halves and open all the way... while also revealing an elevator that would take them to their destination.
Sly never bothered to question Murray as to how he, Bentley, Derpy, Diz, and Clockwerk were going to get up here, as three of them had the ability to fly, but it appeared that the Panda King was more than willing to use his guided fireworks to launch them up to the ramp that was right in front of the Vault door... though as the van landed, and drove up to the elevator so they could all descend into the depths, they heard Bentley stating that they were never doing that again. When they reached the bottom, however, they discovered a number of ancient raccoon shaped statues, cane shaped statues, the legendary Cooper insignia carved into the stone floor and made out of an entirely different stone that rested in the new hole, and a metallic door, in the infamous raccoon shape, resting at the far edge of the room with a rotting bridge in front of it, indicating where they needed to go next.
"Sorry Bentley, Murray, it looks like the six of us will have to move ahead with you guys." Sly said, as he had been hoping that he could show the others what was inside the Vault, as he had never been here before, but as it turned out it was him and his immediate family.
"Do it, Sly." Bentley replied, to which he gestured to the entire area that was around them, as he knew why such a place had been built, and it wasn't just to hide the legendary Cooper Treasure, "This place was built for you guys. We'll hold down the fort here."
Sly nodded as he, Carmelita, Derpy, Gilda, Diz, and Clockwerk approached the gap and crossed over to the door that was in front of them, knowing that it was time to see what the other members of their family line had left for them, and maybe even learn something as they exploded the Vault.
Sly, Carmelita, Derpy, Gilda, Diz, and Clockwerk made their way through the metallic door that was in front of them and continued walking forward, as they knew that there had to be something in front of them, though that was before they found what appeared to be an Egyptian pillar that was resting next to a portrait of one of Sly's ancestors. Just a few steps away from the portrait was an opening that allowed them to see out into the Vault itself, where their jaws dropped for a moment as they took in all the piles of gold and other treasures that had been stolen by the numerous members of the Cooper Clan over the years. It was shocking to see just how much wealth Sly's ancestors had accumulated over the years, treasures that had been stolen from all over the world and carefully stored away like they were in a museum, and they all knew that the historians would have a field day if they even got access to a place like this. They stood there for a few minutes, trying to make sense of what they were seeing, and realized that the treasure that their gang had acquired already was nothing compared to the hoard of treasure that they were currently staring at... even Clockwerk, who usually wasn't phased by things like this, was taken aback by the sheer size of what he was seeing, as it was more than he initially believed the Coopers had taken over the many years he had been hunting them.
After another few moments the group shook their heads and stopped staring at the treasure that was in front of them, as they had come here to do something and they weren't going to be able to do that by just staring out at the massive hoard of treasure that they had discovered.
"Sly, your ancestors sure knew how to decorate... nothing but big piles of gold and all the treasures that they had stolen over the years." Carmelita commented, being the first one to speak after the discovery of all the gold that the Vault contained, even if this was only a fraction of what was in here, since there had to be more treasure stored in the massive cavern that they were in.
"I'll say." Sly said, his tone revealing that he was agreeing with Carmelita, before he turned towards the portrait that they had walked by and investigated it, where he found a pair of small canes resting on a pedestal in front of the stone slab, though it was easy to recognize the thief that it was depicting, "This place must have been started by Slytunkhamen II, the son of Slytunkhamen Cooper, the original author of the Thievius Raccoonus. He built his fortune in the employ of the great pharaohs... that must have been around 1300 BC."
Derpy glanced at the opening that was in front of them again and found that there was something new in front of them, as a few moments after Sly made his comment she found that there were some barrels that were tied to something under the water, as they were floating on top of the water and moved in a pattern that eventually made then sink and then rise a few seconds later. As the others gathered around the opening Sly, noticing the same pattern that his sister had spotted, jumped onto the barrels as they got closer and crossed over to the cane shaped point that someone could stop on for a moment, before using the hooks and barrels that were in front of him to get to the next bit of land. When he came to a stop he turned around and beckoned for the others to follow, where he watched Carmelita go first and remind him why he felt that she was good at being one of them, since she flawlessly executed the same moves he used, before Derpy, Gilda, and Diz took their turns and ran the first obstacle as thieves, instead of magic users. Since Clockwerk didn't have a body like them, and couldn't perform the techniques, he simply flew after them and made sure to take good mental notes on what was around them, that way he could tell the others what their group had discovered while they were in here.
When they were all on the next bit of land they found a few chests, all full of gold and treasure from what appeared to be the medieval time period, a sword stuck in a stone, a new portrait with a weapon that was a cross between a cane and a lance, and some armor that was resting nearby.
"Sir Galleth of the Knights of the Cooper Order." Carmelita said, staring at the knight that happened to be riding on a horse, confirming the time period that they were all thinking about at the moment, while they all also heard the sound of the next obstacle being raised into position for them, "The Thievius Raccoonus states that he was an honorable knight and a cunning thief, while carrying a lance that had the signature cane shape at the tip of it."
"Makes you wonder what sort of obstacle he came up with," Derpy added, though at the same time they took turns crossing over the set of three barrels that were in front of them, and using the wall hook to get on top of the platform it was attached to, before they found out what had been built after Galleth's portrait.
What they discovered was that there were two tracks with circular rolling stones, carved in such a manner that the middle of each stone had a metallic core that allowed them to move down from where they came out, and that there was an alternating pattern that they would need to follow to get to the other side. Sly was the first one to step forward and started following the pattern that all of them had noticed, before Carmelita and the others followed his lead and made sure to jump before one of the rolling stones could hurt them, allowing them to make their way towards the other side of the tracks. The only thing they had to be careful about was the occasional instances where there were three stones back to back, forcing them from one track to the other, but fortunately all of them had trained in the arts that this gauntlet were testing and were able to avoid the stones before they could get hit, and when Sly reached the end he stopped and watched the others as they made their way over to him.
Once all of them had reached the end of the tracks they used their paragliders, as Gilda, Derpy, and Diz also purchased one of their own in case they ever needed it because someone hurt their wings, before they glided down to the platform in front of them. There they discovered a number of Arabian carpets, somehow still pristine after all these years, a few Arabian spires near the portrait that was in front of them, and a cane that seemed to me mixed with a sword, with a lamp resting next to it, like a lamp that resembled the one that was in the legend about a powerful wish granting genie.
"Salim al-Kupar of Arabia." Diz said, staring at the portrait of the Cooper ancestor that was in front of them, though at the same time he recited what he knew from the Thievius Raccoonus, which all of them knew by heart at this point thanks to their studies to become master thieves, "It was said that he had the stealth of forty thieves."
After discovering which ancestor that they were near the group headed to the other side of the platform that they were on and continued forward, jumping over three barrels that were floating in the water, swinging on two hooks that happened to be past them, and climb up the wall hook that was in front of them. From there they had to paraglide down to the next stone area, where a rotating pillar stood in their way and required that they use the wall hooks that were attached to the sides of the four stones that made up the pillar, the first moving left, the second heading to the right, the third moving to the left, and the four heading to the right, to reach the top of the pillar. Sly, of course, was the first one that tackled the challenge that was in front of them, followed by Carmelita and the others when he reached the top of the pillar, but when he reached the top he used his paraglider to head over to the next platform, though he was surprised that they had found the next ancestor already.
When Carmelita and the rest of his family joined him they took in the area that was around them, which included some stone pillars that were different from what the other ancestors had, before laying eyes on the massive cane with a stone tip that was resting in front of the ancestor's portrait.
"The strongest of the Cooper Clan, Slaigh MacCooper, could break any lock with a single blow." Gilda said, though that made sense considering the time period that the ancestor in question had been born in, as that was when locks were rather weak and could be broken in such a way.
The first obstacle, following Slaigh's portrait, was a contraption that resembled the number eight, with two stone spheres moving around the two circular parts of the device, but fortunately there was an easy way around it, as all they had to do was jump onto the top part of the circle that came down towards them, walk over the contraption, and them jump off when they neared the next obstacle. After that they had to take turns sneaking across the walkway that was in front of them, avoiding the stone axeheads that were swinging up towards the walkway that they needed to cross, so they had to wait for them to swing down towards the area below them before they could move. When Sly reached the end, since he was still the first one to tackle everything since he was more connected to this place than the others were, he found a rope that lead to the area above them, where he found a second walkway with stone axeheads that he had to avoid, causing him to start all over again as he headed in the opposite direction of the first walkway. From there he discovered another rope that brought him to a third walkway with the same challenges, to which he said nothing as he patiently waited for an opening and walked across to the other side.
He noticed a new portrait when he reached the end of Slaigh's obstacle course, to which he patiently waited for the rest of his family to catch up with him before doing anything, though when they did catch up they discovered that there was a stone serpent dragon statue, a suit of samurai armor, and a portrait of a very familiar ancestor.
"The Ninja Spire Jump was perfected in Feudal Japan by Rioichi Cooper." Derpy commented, though at the same time, since it appeared that some of the challenges had been made by the ancestor whose portrait they had discovered, that meant that they might be using the named technique to get through this challenge.
The challenge, as they soon discovered, was that they needed to take turns moving through the passage one at a time, jumping from the tips of the naginata pole weapons that emerged from the holes and were pointed towards the ceiling, using the tips of the blades themselves, to reach the other side. In addition to that they had to avoid the blades that were coming out of the ceiling and had to patiently wait for the blade ahead of them to come back out of the hole it was supposed to come out of, but Sly was patient and knew that the rest of his family was as well. At the end of the passage Sly found that they would have to jump on a stone pillar for a moment, use two hooks that would bring them to a wooden walkway, and then glide down to where a wall hook was waiting, and, based on what he was seeing already, he could make out a portrait of the next ancestor on the other side of the obstacles that he had found. Fortunately it wasn't long before his family had joined him and they crossed over to the walkway, before gliding over to the second one and then climbed up to where the next portrait was located, as they were eager to see who they would find next and what sort of obstacle course they would have to move through this time around.
What they discovered was a number of treasure chests, a few cannons, and a female Cooper that happened to be standing on the deck of a wooden ship, one that looked similar to the one that they had taken in Blood Bath Bay, before they recognized the fact that the Cooper in question had an eyepatch over one of her eyes.
"Henriette 'One Eye' Cooper sailed the seas and stole from pirates." Carmelita said, remembering what they had read about the ancestor in question, as there was a very detailed entry from her, like some of the other ancestors that came both before and after her, before she chuckled for a moment, "I guess that we really take after her, even if four of us aren't Coopers by blood."
Sly smiled for a moment, as despite the fact that none of them were actually pirates they had likely done Henriette proud by what they had done at Blood Bath Bay, before turning towards the obstacle course that was in front of them, which appeared to be a simple walkway from here to the other side. The problem was that they needed to duck under the overturned rowboats that were scattered on the walkway, with both their fronts and backs removed, to avoid the deadly yellow wall that was generated by the glowing skull that was moving down the passage and disappeared when it reached the end, though there was also more than one of them. Sly ducked under the first rowboat and waited for the first skull to move by him, though once that happened he moved out and headed under the second one, while at the same time Carmelita and the others followed after him one at a time, as when he moved Carmelita would move and then someone would duck under the first rowboat to follow the pattern that they were carefully following. Fortunately there were only five rowboats that they had to duck under and the passage was short enough so they wouldn't feel like they were wasting time, but at the end they found a rope that they could ride on to reach the next Cooper portrait that was closer to the water than the last two.
When they reached the new platform they found a number of western styled moneybags, a few glass containers that were also from that era since they were square shaped and not circular shaped, before finding a cane that was a mixture of a cane and a gun, but all of them knew who this cane belonged to... and, at the same time, Sly noticed that Clockwerk had been unnaturally quiet, no doubt taken aback by the sheer size of the Vault and the various ancestors that they were finding along the path they were taking.
"It's said that 'Tennessee Kid' Cooper learned to slide along railroad tracks in the Old West." Gilda stated, though at the same time she smiled, as that was what many ordinary people, who knew about history, said, as if Tennessee Kid was actually from somewhere else, "Makes sense when you read his entries and find that he did a number of things in the Old West, and that riding rails is only the technique he developed."
After staring at Tennessee Kid's portrait for a few seconds, or rather his wanted poster since he likely didn't have the time to sit down and have a professional make one for the Vault, Sly and the others started moving again, where they found that they had to cross over three more barrels in the water and walk along the top of a metallic version of the figure eight they had encountered earlier. The interesting part was that they had to cross over three of the devices to reach the other side, where the next obstacle waited for them, and they took turns to make sure that everyone had a chance to get across on their own before they looked at the obstacle that was now in front of them. What Sly discovered was that they were going to have to climb some rope to reach the top area, though while doing that they were going to have to avoid the wheel shaped devices that were moving down the two ropes, which also had sharp sticks to whack someone off the rope if they weren't careful, and he determined what they needed to do immediately. Sly moved forward and latched onto the first rope, only darting over to the next one and back when one of the wheels approached him, and when he reached the top of the obstacle, and got off the rope, he waited as the rest of his family repeated his movements.
Once the group was back together they opened their paragliders and glided down to the next platform, where they found moneybags that were entirely different from the ones that were around Tennessee Kid's area, along with a few couches, a golden goblet, and a cane that had a ruby attached to the hook.
"According to the Thievius Raccoonus, Victorian-era London was the stomping grounds for the most gentlemanly thief, Thaddeus Winslow Cooper." Diz stated, reciting what he knew from his readings, while at the same time staring at the nice portrait of the ancestor that they had discovered, who seemed to be a gentleman in the picture and had penned many entries into the family tome, including the section about disguises.
A few moments later Sly discovered that the next obstacle required them to jump onto two moving barrels so that they could reach a series of four hooks, which opened after a few seconds and then closed moments later, to reach a little rock formation that likely held their next challenge. Thanks to their skills they were able to traverse the obstacle without any problems, even if they had to patiently wait for the barrels to come out of the water and for the hooks to reform, but once they were together they noticed that they would have to use the Ninja Spire Jump to traverse some points to reach a wall hook that would get them even closer to their objective. After that they stared at the wall that they would have to climb by jumping from the top of one machine arm to the top of the one that would strike the area above their heads, which meant this challenge was all about timing and Sly showed the others how it was done, impressing them as he moved off to the side and watched them replicate the same movements that he had gone through, until all of them had gotten to the top, allowing them to move forward once more.
Behind them rested what many would assume was a low level mechanic's shop, as there were tool cases spread out, biplane pieces laying against the walls, and even the propeller cane that was the signature of the only true mechanic in the entire Cooper Clan, one that they all knew by heart.
"Besides being a thief, Otto van Cooper was a great fighter ace and mechanic." Derpy stated, speaking what was on their minds at the moment, as it was hard to not say anything after they had done so for all of the other ancestors that they had walked by on their quest to explore the Cooper Vault.
With that done Sly and the others took turns crossing over the nearby gap, using the pair of hooks in the process, but at the same time they all noticed that the biplane that was Otto van Cooper's treasure was suspended near his portrait, and it appeared to be in good condition, despite the time that it spent inside the Vault. After that they had to cross through a passage that had a few spinning propellers as points for them to jump onto and then move forward, but only one of them could cross at any given moment and, as usual, Sly took point to see what else was in front of them while also showing off how to get things done. When they reached the end of the passage, and grouped up once more, they found a few treasure cases that were filled with gold and gems, a machine that was generating the Cooper symbol across the gap in front of them, a laptop that was near the portrait, and an empty pedestal, where the ancestor's cane would have gone... though that was before they stared at the ruined portrait that was in front of them, with the unknown ancestor balancing a little raccoon kid on his knee, a scene that Sly remembered all too well.
"No way." Carmelita said, as she hadn't been expecting them to find this particular ancestor while they visited the Vault, not when Clockwerk and the rest of his gang had done in the member that they were staring at, before she glanced at Sly for a moment, "Sly, is this..."
"This is my father's work... I recognize this scene anywhere." Sly replied, though at the same time he stepped forward and rested a hand on the part of his father's portrait that he could see, the lower half that contained him, before he turned towards the gap and noticed the laser beam that was shooting across to the other side, "How am we supposed to get across this? He made this challenge for a move we've never learned... there's nothing like this in the Thievius Raccoonus. Come on, dad, help us out here."
"Sly... I think your father designed a laser walking technique." Diz said, though as the group turned towards her she pointed at the laser, where they could faintly see the blue sparkles that occasionally appeared when they were looking for thieving opportunities.
Sly's eyes widened as he jumped forward, spun around like when he used the rail walk technique, and sure enough he landed right on top of the laser beam like it was nothing, before riding it down to the other side and jumping off when he reached the other end. He had known that every Cooper developed their own special technique at some point in time, as it was something that all of them had done, but while his father never had the chance to pen in this particular technique Sly knew that the first thing he'd do, once this was all over, was dedicate a section to the technique for future generations, before trying to figure out what his special technique was. Once he was at the end he watched as the rest of his family followed suit, riding down the beam like it was nothing and proving that this was a challenge only a Cooper could pull off, before they turned to the series of laser beams that they had to ride down to reach what was likely the inner sanctum, to which they wasted no time in getting underway and rode down the beams with a smile on their faces... even Clockwerk, who was responsible for Conner's death, had his version of a smile, as he had never seen anything like this and was sure that Conner would have been proud of his son.
The Inner Sanctum, as they soon found out, had to be the core of the Cooper Vault and the entire island, though as they used the laser beams to get to the center they stared at the hanging vehicles that had been stored in here, a large door that lead to the outside for easy access if a Cooper had such a vehicle, and a number of things that made the entire adventure seem overwhelming.
"This is just overwhelming!" Carmelita commented, as everything that she had seen in the Vault surpassed her wildest expectations when she heard that such a place existed, and at the same time she was speaking what everyone else was thinking at the moment, before glancing at one of the machines, "Amazing! How'd Thaddeus make a flying machine in the 1800s? Bet this thing still works."
"Oh, I'm sure it's operational." a voice said, though that was when the group was a little surprised to see Dr. M touch down nearby, meaning that he must have placed a tracker of some kind on the cane, just before they retrieved it, so he could get the layout of the Vault and navigate the gauntlet with ease, which was what someone without honor would do, especially when it was the Cooper Vault that they were disgracing.
"Dr. M, glad you could see all this." Sly replied, as he had known that their foe would have tried playing them again in some manner, and honestly he didn't see the need to bother with looking over his cane for a small tracker, because at least this way, when he and his family beat their opponent, he could say that he knew what was inside the Cooper Vault before he was arrested and sent to jail for his crimes, "We all know you've been looking forward to it."
"Looking forward to all of this... and your death!" Dr. M replied, though at the same time the machine that he was currently plugged into tapped it's limbs on the ground, as it seemed that he had some sort of spider like attachment that allowed him to navigate the gauntlet.
"And how are you going to defeat all six of us?" Gilda asked, though as she said that the five family members drew their canes and took on their battle stances, as she, Derpy, and Diz let what little power they had left dance around their left hands, while Clockwerk spread his wings and looked as menacing as he could be given his small form.
"Simple." Dr. M stated, to which he used the power of his machine to jump over their heads and land in the middle of the Inner Sanctum, causing the group to back up and spread out a little, before jamming his machine into the power core of the entire Vault and empowering himself to the point where they'd fail, before using two of the limbs to form a sphere of electrical energy that would decimate whoever touched it, "I'm going to blow all of you away and seize everything that the Vault has for myself... and I think I'll start with you, Cooper!"
Just as everyone registered who Dr. M was talking about, as it had to be Sly, the mad scientist loosed the sphere and sent it flying towards his target, but at the same time something happened that Dr. M didn't expect, as Clockwerk flew through the air and positioned himself between Sly and the blast. At first the collision with the sphere hurt, as his body couldn't handle the sheer electrical surge that came with it, as electricity that was as powerful as this had a habit of breaking his body, but this time he felt the pain dulling as the true power of his new chip came to life, the electricity no longer hurting him, rather it was being absorbed. Clockwerk glanced at Sly and Carmelita, who would have been in the way of the blast had he not intervened, before the bright blue light returned to his eyes as he flared his wings and shattered the sphere, kicking up smoke as he activated the release function that he had been waiting to release.
"Make that five, Cooper." Dr. M said, not even aware of the fact that who had gotten in the way was still ticking, as he'd end them all soon enough, though his thoughts about the situation were that if it was that easy to take someone out then he'd just do it again and again until they were all gone.
Actually, it's still six. Clockwerk replied, though at the same time he waved his wing and knocked the smoke away, revealing his true terrifying self once more, causing Dr. M to detach from the area that his machine had been plugged into as he stared up at him with fear in his eyes.
"You're dead! The news said that you were dead!?" Dr. M shouted, to which he backed up and tried to get some distance between him and the ancient mechanical owl, who had been small moments ago, but the sheer fact that this was the mighty Clockwerk, a being that he never bothered to study since he never intended to fight it, made him realize just how screwed he really was.
You shouldn't believe everything you read on the news... besides, I'm immortal. Clockwerk stated, as the sheer power that came from the newly empowered chip made it nearly impossible for him to die, not unless one of the magic users turned against him, as that was now the one weakness, that he knew about, that he couldn't account for, though that was before he opened one of his talons and lashed out at Dr. M, removing him from the machine and knocked him over to Sly and the others, where he proceeded to tear the device apart before it exploded.
"Here's where you miscalculated, Dr. M," Sly said, though at the same time Diz surprised the shocked technical expert by wrapping a magically empowered rope around his hands, which locked down his hands like he was cuffed in iron or something, before continuing, "First off, my family and I are master thieves, each having the complete knowledge of the Thievius Raccoonus memorized in our minds and practiced so much that we perfected each move that we learned about, as well as who created the technique. Second of all, you would have been facing off against three magic users, as Gilda, Derpy, and Diz each have the power to command an element, such as wind, lightning, and even chaos itself, and that already decreased your chances of winning a fight against us. And last, but certainly not least, we reformed Clockwerk and made him a valuable ally to the team... and, since it appears that he's overcome one of his weaknesses, all of your machines, those with electrical attacks, became useless."
"And here's another thing, you'll be going to jail once Secretary Sen arrives," Carmelita added, though as a look appeared on Dr. M's face, one that told them that they were wrong since he had the deed to the island, she smiled at him for a few seconds, "You see, we found out that you stole the deed to Kaine Island, something that is only passed down through the Cooper Family from one generation to the next, and the deed that was issued to Sly's father has officially been nullified with a new one ready to be presented to Sly when our friends arrive. Sly wasn't lying when he said that you're trespassing and that you'd be in trouble for being here, though with the addition of the genetic monsters, and the fact that you willing killed so many of your guards to get into the Vault, I'd say that you're going to be spending the rest of your life in jail, along with a number of other prisoners that we've helped capture."
Dr. M found that he had been outsmarted, as he never bothered to have the deed changed to his name in all the time that he had it, as he had been so preoccupied with claiming everything that was inside the Cooper Vault, and now, with the treasure so close to being his, he found that he was losing it and everything that he owned at the same time. In the end he sighed and held his head towards the ground, as it appeared that Bentley, in all his wisdom and intellect, was definitely smarter than he was, and that it was time for him to admit defeat, because the moment he opened his mouth to shout at them Diz sealed it shut with a gag she fashioned from rope. With him subdued Carmelita found the switch to open the large door that was nearby and discovered what part of the island it was located in, one that would have allowed Dr. M to rob the Cooper Clan blind if he had discovered it's existence, before they headed out to meet the rest of the gang... and finally make Dr. M pay for everything that he had done since stealing the deed to Kaine Island, before figuring out what they were going to do with all the treasure that was now theirs.
Sly had the feeling that they'd come up with something, but for now their focus was on delivering Dr. M to the authorities and making him face judgement, and that was perfectly fine with him, as he felt that they needed some rest before they even touched the Vault and it's contents.
Sly, Carmelita, Gilda, Derpy, Diz, and Clockwerk had quite the tale to tell the rest of the gang, as they had docked the ship at the actual dock, now that all of Dr. M's forces had been routed, as in knocked out, and the mutants had been taken care of, also knocked out so the authorities could see what the mad scientist had done. Describing the sheer size of the treasure that was inside the Cooper Vault shocked some of them, as Penelope, who was new to the whole history of the Cooper Clan, was stunned by what they were telling them, and even Bentley and Murray, who had known about the Clan's various deeds, were surprised by the news. Even then the new members of the gang didn't insist on taking much, as only a few of them actually came with them to seize some treasure for their time, because the Guru did not require any earthy possessions, Penelope had scored a relationship with Bentley, the Panda King was repaying his debt to the Cooper Gang, and Dimitri was just fine having some fun with his reclaimed scuba equipment... even though he insisted that he keep his grandfather's treasure and everything that they took from Blood Bath Bay, minus the pirate ship.
Considering the amount of treasure that was inside the Vault, and the fact that their own wealth was stored back in their safe house in Paris, the original gang didn't see anything wrong with his request, as they were more surprised that none of the other members wanted anything for themselves, but they were willing to take what was happening and call the entire operation a success... even though Dr. M moaned from where he was sitting, since Diz had tied him up really good so he didn't run off to the Vault and do something foolish, like blow the entire place up.
As they waited for Secretary Sen to arrive at the dock, with the deed that would be transferred into the care of the Cooper Family, or more specifically Sly and Carmelita, the gang talked about how they were going to secure Kaine Island and the treasure that was locked away in the Vault. The Guru was able to persuade the earthen spirit that lingered around the island, as in the earth itself and not any ghosts that were still lingering in the area, to reinforce the mountain that the Vault was located in, strengthening it to the point where not even a powerful explosive wouldn't tear the entire area apart, but that was all he was able to do. The door was still exposed and only a few people knew that the cane Sly was carrying was the key to open it, but with Dr. M still around it was only a matter of time until he revealed where the Vault was located and how to open it, maybe to promote another thief to try and steal from the Cooper Clan. Even all the fortress walls and turrets ended up coming down, as the Guru managed to persuade the spirits to help them break them down as well... though Diz assisted him by using her own power to turn the parts into earth, which were added to the ground around them in an attempt to return the area to what it had been before Dr. M claimed the area and started the decades of work that he had done to the island.
When they did all they were able to do, amazing a stunned Dr. M with the sheer fact that Diz was as powerful as she was, and the sheer amount of skills that had been brought to bare against his forces, a number of boats pulled into the dock and the gang, the majority of which remained on the pirate ship to be out of the way, noticed that the boats belonged to Interpol... to which Sly, Carmelita, and his siblings stepped forward as Secretary Sen stepped onto the dock and faced them, along with the tied up Dr. M.
"It seems that you were successful in bringing Dr. M to justice." Secretary Sen commented, noticing that the mad doctor was aware of the situation that he was in and knew that his chances of getting out of prison earlier didn't exist at all, before turning towards the members of the gang that were in front of him as he pulled out a piece of paper, one that they were eager to have in their possession, "The new deed to Kaine Island, to replace the one that had been stolen."
"At least the Cooper Vault is safe, for now." Sly replied, though at the same time he gladly accepted the deed that was being offered to them, as it was a replacement for the one that his fathered intended to give him one day, only now he would be able to pass it down to the children that he and Carmelita had.
"But for how long?" Carmelita asked, as they still hadn't come up with a definite way to keep the island safe, because now that Dr. M knew where the Vault and the key were located it was only a matter of time until he told someone what they needed to do to get into the location where all the Cooper Clan's treasure was kept, provided they could get the key away from Sly, "It's not like we can rip the island out of this world and hide it somewhere else... we'll need to come up with a new security system to keep the island hidden and the Vault safe."
"Actually, that sounds like a good idea." Diz spoke up, causing the group to look at her for a moment, as they weren't sure what she was talking about, though at the same time she watched as a few of the other Interpol operatives arrested Dr. M and took them back to one of the nearby boats, "I'll tell you guys what I've got planned, once we're out on the water and put some distance between us and the island."
Sly and Carmelita glanced at each other again for a few seconds, as they remembered what Diz had done when they discovered that General Tsao basically treated women like they were nothing and was planning to force Jing King to marry him against her will, and that made them wonder what sort of idea Diz had this time around. As such the five of them returned to their ship as Secretary Sen returned to his own boat with the rest of his trusted agents, before they all got underway and started to leave Kaine Island behind, where Sly glanced back at the Vault, where he noticed that the door was closed, just like he remembered it was supposed to be after they won against Dr. M. As they headed back towards the mainland, so the evil doctor could be sentenced to spend the rest of his life in the same prison as the other people they had brought down, Diz explained that she was going to use her power to try something she had never attempted before, exactly what Carmelita suggested earlier. When their ship reached a good distance from the island, and the Interpol boats were doing the same thing, Diz faced the island once more and sighed as she closed her eyes and focused her mind for a few seconds... where her hands glowed with power as her aura came to life, causing the others to glance at the island as they wondered what she was planning.
The wind kicked up for a moment as the sky above their heads darkened, as if Gilda and Derpy were aiding her in what she was doing, but neither of them were channeling their spent powers at the moment and were just as confused as the others, though that was before they noticed something odd about the water in front of them. A green line appeared on top of the water that happened to be between them and where the island was located, stretching out around the entire island from what they could tell, and only a few moments later Gilda and Derpy declared that Kaine Island was surrounded by a glowing green circle. Lightning flashed as the air around them shuddered and Diz lifted herself into the air, channeling more of her chaotic powers than she usually did at any given time, but she was so focused on what she was attempting that she barely noticed what she was doing at the moment. As the moments ticked by the gang watched as lightning struck the glowing circle and the area on the island's side of the circle seemed to lift up into the air a little, while their side seemed to remain in the same area... before Diz loosed one final burst of power and finished what she was attempting to do with a blinding flash of light.
When the light died down, and the gang opened their eyes again, they found that Kaine Island was missing, as if it had been snatched from this reality and deposited in a different reality, before Diz let the power die down and touched down on the deck once more, only she was kneeling and sweating due to the power she had used... and her tail had changed due to her powers, as it looked dragon-like snake tail with a white tuft at the very end.
"Great, I use a great deal of power and it's my tail that changes," Diz spoke up, showing that she was still female this time around, which the gang felt was odd since massive power outputs caused her to switch genders and that this was the first time it had failed to do that, before she sighed as she stared at the red scaled tail and the white tuft it had, "but I guess I can get used to this... especially since I got used to having two wings from two different species."
"Diz, what did you do to Kaine Island?" Sly asked, because he assumed that the island that the Cooper Vault was located on was safe now, as the landmass seemed to have been snatched from reality, but he felt the need to ask her what she had done.
"I... I think I took it to a new reality." Diz replied, though at the same time she thought about what she had done and looked down at her hand for a moment, as she was thinking about what she could do to show the gang where she had taken the island that the Cooper Vault had been hidden in.
"How are you all okay with what she did?" Penelope asked, as she had known that Diz could manipulate reality like it was her toy, but at the same time she was trying to comprehend what she, and the rest of the gang, had witnessed, only she was failing at the moment, "Speaking of which, how are you able to do something like that?"
"My family is used to me doing things like this occasionally." Diz stated, to which her family members nodded their heads in agreement, showing Penelope that they knew what she was capable of doing and that she'd eventually get used to such a thing if she stuck with them, before she waved her hand at the air to the right of where she was standing, "And I think I can show you where I sent Kaine Island, so it can be safe from other people that might want to get their hands on the legendary Cooper Clan treasure."
On the other side of the magical window was Kaine Island, resting in what appeared to be an endless sea, but since it appeared that the island was in a different reality Sly was content for a moment, as Diz explained that she intended to create a doorway to connect this pocket dimension to a safe place so the gang could access it at some point in the future, once they've settled down anyway. From there the gang followed Interpol back toward Paris, as they intended to return to their warehouse at some point in time, though at the same time the newest members of their gang, now that their mission was complete, insisted that, at some point in the future, they return to their old lives, something that Sly and the others were more than willing to agree to.
When the gang got back to Paris, and Diz somehow teleported the pirate ship to the pocket dimension once everything they wanted was off of it, they headed to their warehouse and settled in for a well deserved rest, including a party to celebrate what they had done. At the same time, however, Bentley made arrangements for the Guru, the Panda King, and Dimitri to head back to wherever they wanted, which was the Outback for the Guru and Murray, who insisted on completing his training before anything else happened, the Panda King wanted to live the quiet life near his daughter, and, as they suspected, Dimitri was planning on opening a new nightclub that had no crime involved at all. Penelope, on the other hand, smiled as she sat near Bentley and wrapped an arm around him, telling the others her intent was to stay with the gang, or more specifically her boyfriend, and continue sharing in their adventures until the gang officially broke up and went their separate ways, like Sly's father did when he retired so he could raise Sly. Gilda, Derpy, and Diz, having nothing but their skills as thieves and magic users, decided that they would continue what they had been doing before they learned of the Cooper Vault, though before everyone went their separate ways Diz had them gather in the lower area of the Vault, where the majority of their current loot was stored.
She, Bentley, and Penelope revealed that, since they had a spot where a circular door could rest, they would put the same door that opened the actual Vault against the wall, but on the other side would be a portal to Kaine Island, the dock to be exact, and that whoever went through it would have a whole new set of obstacles to get through to get to the door of the real Vault, and then the gauntlet that was created by their ancestors... though all that would come to pass once they figured out what sort of obstacles they were going to put in the opening area.
Sly, upon hearing that news, revealed that he had a surprise of his own, one that he had been planning since he and the gang met Carmelita's family and learned of the existence of the Cooper Vault, and that was a golden ring that had two beautiful gemstones, a ruby and sapphire to be exact, set in the center of the metal. At first Carmelita was stunned, as she couldn't believe what Sly was showing her, but when he pulled out the matching ring she realized what he was doing and a smile appeared on her face, as this was something that she had been hoping for, ever since she admitted her feelings and finally started dating Sly. Despite the fact that they were clearly in love with each other, and honestly didn't need a ceremony to complete it, they both agreed that a small ceremony should be held, with Carmelita's family and the rest of the gang invited to have some fun, though the only thing they had to do now was set up the date that it would happen and send out the invitations once they knew where they were holding the ceremony.
Even as that happened Sly overheard Bentley telling Penelope his plans on creating a device that would allow them to view time, as it appeared that he was finally itching to get to work on figuring out the true story of the ancient owl that was a permanent member of their gang... but he knew that building a machine like that was going to be at some point in the future, as Bentley was going to be busy with planning the ceremony and helping them, and he knew that the ceremony would be one that none of them would ever forget.
Two months went by since the gang had assaulted Kaine Island, and the scientist that had taken the island's deed for himself so law enforcement couldn't touch him, which failed once everyone figured out that the deed had been stolen and a new one had been created to replace it, though the Cooper Gang was far from relaxing after their adventure. Shortly after their return to Paris, and their warehouse, Diz, Bentley, Penelope, and even Clockwerk got to work creating a new Cooper Vault door that acted like the one on Kaine Island, so that it would only open with the cane that Sly was carrying and not one of the other ones that existed, and then hauled it into position once the golden door was ready. In addition to that they carved six special emblems into the metal, the ones that Sly and Carmelita used being near the top of where the slot was, Bentley's on the left of the cane while Murray's sat to the right, and finally Gilda and Derpy rested at the bottom of the slot. Diz also surprised them by surrounding the cane slot in an emblem that resembled an oddly shaped six pointed star, and oddly enough the gang agreed that it brought the seven of them together as a family, showing Sly that the others, even if they were only temporary members, were okay with this since they would be remembered for their deeds by the stories that they told the next generation.
Sly, of course, was happy to have another piece of his family's history secure, because with the Cooper Vault and the Thievius Raccoonus in his possession any thief that carried the Cooper name, and came after him and his family, would know the full history of their clan and be able to add to the massive treasure hoard that they had been gathering since the Vault was first created... though what he needed to do, at some point in the future, was figure out where he was going to set aside a section for his family and himself inside the incredible Vault.
Once their work on the door was complete, and Diz connected the pocket dimension that Kaine Island was being stored in to the other side of the new metallic door, so that the portal would open once the correct key was inserted into the slot, they spent a few days installing some hazards for whoever the next generation was. The moment they were done installing the latest obstacles that would protect the Cooper Vault, and sealed the door behind them until Sly wanted to take another peek inside there, the gang got to work on something that had held Sly's attention since they got back, and that was planning his and Carmelita's wedding. One of the things that they agreed on was that it was a small ceremony, mostly because they didn't want to make an announcement to the world that this was happening, despite the records showing that such a thing happened, and they got to work sending out invitations to the people that they wanted to invite to the ceremony, and the first one sent was to Carmelita's family. In addition to them, since they were family, there was also the fact that they invited the rest of the gang, because without them they wouldn't have gotten inside the Vault at all, though figuring out where to have the ceremony fell to Clockwerk.
If someone had asked Sly a week ago if he would have trusted the ancient owl he would have said that they were out of their minds, and that was if they were referring to the hateful owl that they fought in Russia, but the new Clockwerk, who seemed to have fun with them and enjoyed his time inventing with Bentley, even though he now had to share his first friend with Penelope these days, was someone that Sly could trust. Clockwerk proved himself by finding a lovely spot in the hills about an hour outside Paris, much like some of the vineyards that he flew over, that was an ideal spot for them to set up their own wedding area and not be disturbed, especially once the area was reserved for some time so they could hold the ceremony and have some fun. The moment he found the area out, and told the others about it, Sly and Carmelita went out and made the arrangements for the big day, allowing the others to get all the food and other accessories that were necessary for the ceremony, making sure to check every box that Bentley and Penelope could think of so the wedding was one that they would all remember for years to come... and they even convinced the Panda King to make some fireworks that weren't actually explosives, rather the works of art that he had originally tried to create, and that made him very happy to have someone want his old passions back once more.
During all that, however, the rest of the gang could tell that both Penelope and Bentley were working on their own feelings and relationship, as it was official that they were boyfriend and girlfriend, but for right now they were focusing on making sure that Sly and Carmelita had the best wedding day they could possibly have... and, at the same time, both of them had a special gift that they were working on and told no one what it was that they were doing, wanting to keep it a surprise until the time was right.
The days following the reservation being made for the wedding, resulting in Sly and Carmelita finding a store to get the necessary clothing attire for such a formal event, was quite busy for the gang as they made their preparations and ensured that everything would be ready on the date that the couple set. The people that the couple sent invitations to also sent them a reply, where Sly and Carmelita, upon opening and reading all of them, were pleased to find that everyone they had invited to the ceremony were going to come and help them celebrate this wonderful day. Despite the fact that almost all of Carmelita's friends before joining the gang had been her coworkers at Interpol, who had betrayed her by siding with Neyla and listened to her lies, there was one officer that she, as well as the rest of the gang, trusted and that was her friend Judy Hopps. An invitation was also sent to Secretary Sen, since it was because of him Sly and Carmelita were able to start working on their relationship and eventually reach this point, but considering his position they knew that he might not be able to make it and left him marked down as a special guest that may or may not arrive... though that didn't stop the two of them from looking forward to the special day that was approaching, along with the memories that would be made after the ceremony.
Eventually the day of the wedding ceremony arrived and the gang gathered at the small chapel that Clockwerk had found, which was large enough for him and all of the guests that had been invited to the ceremony, and outside the building rested an area where they'd gather for the food and hold the rest of the celebration. The members of the gang sat on the left side of the building, each and every one of them dressed up for the ceremony by wearing tuxedos and dresses that were appropriate for the occasion, while at the same time Bentley stood next to Sly at the alter, though what surprised them was that Murray was fine with this arrangement. On the right side of the room sat the rest of the guests, which included Carmelita's parents, Edward and Margret Fox, her grandfather, Haytham James Fox, a smiling Mz. Ruby, and a few family members that Carmelita had known about and invited despite not having seen them very often, but at the very least they seemed supportive of what was going on. The oddest thing was that Secretary Sen actually showed up for the ceremony, surprising the gang in the process, but what really surprised them was that the other four Secretaries also joined him, as they were taking a day off from their duties and the others decided to join him... though after meeting Bast, Anu, Kaji, and Jaxie, before they took their seats, Sly suspected that this was Bast's idea, but put it to the back of his mind for now as he waited for the ceremony to begin.
A few moments later he heard the door behind him open and turned his gaze towards it, where he and the others found Carmelita, dressed in an elegant wedding dressing that perfectly fit her body, standing there with a smile on her face with some roses in her hands, before her father stopped by her side and escorted her down the aisle towards the alter, where Sly was patiently waiting. When Edward reached the alter he stood to the side as Carmelita stepped up beside Sly, allowing him to return to his seat to watch the ceremony, and the two of them faced the Priest that was standing in front of them, who began the ceremony now that the two of them were ready to go. The ceremony progressed as the gang thought it would, as both Sly and Carmelita stood there with smiles on their faces as the priest spoke the 'binding' words, or whatever they were officially called, and eventually reached the point in the ceremony when they were supposed to speak, and, to no one's surprise, both Sly and Carmelita said 'I do' when one of them were asked if they would stand by the other's side, before the two of them were pronounced husband and wife.
That, of course, was followed by everyone heading outside and having the rest of the celebration that they had carefully planned out for today, where they ate the food that had been prepared, danced to the tune of the music that had been picked out for today, and had a great time while smiles graced all their faces... and the roses, when it came time to toss them, was actually grabbed by Penelope, granted that she didn't have a lot of competition to get it, but that didn't stop her from blushing as she glanced at Bentley.
There wasn't much in terms of wedding gifts, not when Sly and Carmelita had a good number of the everyday items that people used in their lives, like cooking pots and items like it, but there was a decent surprise from Carmelia's parents, and that was a nice house that was half an hour from where the warehouse was located, one that happened to have four bedrooms and two bathrooms. Sly and Carmelita didn't need to be told why the house had that many bedrooms, as it appeared that Carmelita's parents wanted to be grandparents at some point in the future, but they told Edward and Margret that they intended to have kids at some point in the future, and it wasn't to continue the Cooper line, they wanted to be like other families, despite that they were thieves and their kids would follow in their footsteps when they came of age to receive the Thievius Raccoonus. Gilda, Derpy, and Diz learned that there was a specific reason that Sly had been given the family tome when he was eight years old, as it was the night he was supposed to begin his studies to become a thief like his father, but they said nothing about that as they let the duo enjoy their special day.
Bentley and Penelope's gift, as it turned out, was for Sly and Carmelita to take a few days off from being thieves and have their honeymoon in one of the more beautiful parts of Venice, where they wouldn't have to worry about a gang like the one they helped topple, allowing the remainder of them to continue their work as thieves of the Cooper Gang before it was time for them to come back.
As the ceremony progressed, however, Gilda, Derpy, and Diz noticed that the tattoos on Bast's arms glowed for a moment as she wished Sly and Carmelita a prosperous and peaceful future, while the other Secretaries thanked them for allowing them to come and visit them on what was one of their most important days, before apologizing because they couldn't stay for much longer, as Sen discovered that there was something they needed to do and that duty was calling them back to their jobs once more. They were positive that at least Bast had some sort of magical power, and potentially Anu as well, but since neither of them seemed to be giving off any hints that such a thing was happening they decided to say nothing and simply enjoyed the rest of the celebration. The three of them were sure that, at some point in the future anyway, this would happen to them, that they would find true love and eventually get married as well, but for now they were focused on making sure that Sly and Carmelita's day was as great as they had planned, without anything terrible happening to them, as they would never live with themselves if something actually happened.
Fortunately the day ended without anything happening, other than everyone enjoying themselves and wishing both Sly and Carmelita well with the new part of their lives, though when the celebration was over, and those that had been invited headed back home, Bentley pulled the duo over for a moment to tell them something before they went off and enjoyed their honeymoon.
"Bentley, is something wrong?" Sly asked, as that was the only thing that crossed his mind at the moment, which would have put a negative mark on this otherwise successful day, but instead of saying anything else he and Carmelita stood there as they waited to hear what was happening.
"No, I just wanted to tell you that Penelope and I are going to start work on our secret project tomorrow." Bentley told them, to which a look of understanding crossed their faces for a moment, as they understood that what he was talking about was trying to figure out a way to see the past so they could record the true history of Clockwerk and how he came to be the hateful owl he used to be, "It should take us a few years to get everything right, considering that this is an unknown field that we're working in, but I'll be sure to tell you guys when something happens... but for now you should go and enjoy yourselves, because you both have earned some time off."
Sly smiled as he wrapped an arm around Carmelita, as they both agreed that Gilda, Derpy, and Diz, backed by Bentley, Murray, Penelope, and Clockwerk, would be able to carry the Cooper name until they were ready to return from their honeymoon... and they both knew that the future was going to be just as exciting for them as the last few years of their lives had been, which made them look forward to seeing what the future held with a smile on their faces.
Six years had gone by since Sly and Carmelita's wedding ceremony, when they finally became tied to each other in more ways than what they had currently going for them, and both of them were extremely happy with how their lives had gone since that fateful day. True to Bentley and Penelope's word their honeymoon in the part of Venice that they had picked out had gone wonderfully, as they were able to sit back, relax with each other as they gazed out at the city, and simply enjoyed themselves without having to worry about what sort of criminal they were taking out next. It reminded Sly of what happened after he and the gang beat Clockwerk the first time around, even though they helped train Diz to become the thief he was now, and the same thing happened after they bested the Klaww Gang, save for assisting Carmelita in adapting to her new life as a thief and adapting to the ancient owl, who had been put back together, being a permanent addition to the gang as well, with a new personality, or old one according to Derpy, to match. The only difference for them was that there weren't any missions they needed to prepare for, any enemies they needed to keep their eyes out for, and no police officers looking for them so an arrest warrant could be served... they were free to actually relax and unwind for real, and the two of them intended to make the most of their time together, before they rejoined the rest of the gang.
Despite the fact that they were supposed to be on their honeymoon, however, they still looked at some of the artifacts and 'priceless' items that were in some of the museums that they were in Venice, as both of them had the same idea to come back in the future and swipe a few items from some of the exhibits. Just because they were a married couple now, and were supposed to be leaving all the thieving to Derpy, Gilda, Diz, and the others didnt't mean that they couldn't stake out an area and jot down some notes for later, as they knew that Bentley would like having them do some of the legwork before they got back to him.
Their return to Paris two weeks later was met with the gang greeting them at the airport, where they were taken back to the warehouse that served as their base of operations, though at the same time they had some news to tell the gang, as they intended to move out of the warehouse and start living in the house that Carmelita's parents had gifted to them. The arrangement, as Carmelita found out, was for three months, giving them time to get their affairs in order and move in, as well as set up a payment system that wouldn't lead cops to their door when they returned to the field in the future, even though Bentley said he'd figure all that out in no time. Gilda, Derpy, and Diz were a little sad that Sly and Carmelita were moving out, even if they were only a short distance away from the warehouse, but at the same time they all knew that the time would have eventually come when they settled down and had their own families, even if it was going to take some effort on their part to find someone that liked them for who they were, especially since one of them was a pegasus, the second was a griffin, and the third was... well, they weren't entirely sure what to label Diz now, what with one wing that matched Derpy's, a second wing that resembled a bat's wing, and the oddly shaped tail that he had gained, but they'd figure something out in the future.
The two story house was everything that Sly and Carmelita needed, and it reminded him of the house that he had grown up in despite it being in a completely different part of Paris, and they managed to set up everything where they wanted it to go, which was easy since Murray was kind enough to help. While they worked to set up their house the two of them discovered that the rest of the gang had done like they said they would, as the Panda King went back to live near his daughter and sister, the Guru went back to the Outback, and Dimitri had plans for a new club that seemed to be working out to his benefit. Murray, having waited until they were back in Paris and had moved into their new house, bid them farewell for now and headed to the airport, so he could travel to the Outback and complete his training that they had interrupted to get into the Cooper Vault, and everyone wished him luck in his training. Bentley and Penelope also stayed true to their word and revealed that they had gone on their first date a few days after the wedding, and right now they were absolutely loving the time they spent together, meaning that they were likely well on their way to what Sly and Carmelita had gone through... provided the duo stopped talking about their inventions and actually stayed out of their labs for more than a few hours, but Sly was sure that they would make it work out in the end.
Clockwerk, despite all the time he had spent with the Cooper Gang, remained at the warehouse and made sure that the defenses were up to Bentley and Penelope's standards, since his old standards had included a fortress that rested inside a volcano and happened to be protected by robotic flying minions and a death ray, though he did make sure to set up hidden cameras around the exterior of the warehouse, in case any potential threat poked it's head out of the ground and tried to mess with them.
As the first week went by, and they adjusted to living in a house that they owned and didn't have to worry about being interrupted, Sly and Carmelita really got to know each other better and thoroughly enjoyed the time that they spent with each other, and made sure to keep their night time activities to themselves. A few weeks later, however, it was hard for them to really hide what they had did from the rest of the gang, because at first it looked like Carmelita had put on some weight during their time off from thieving and being with the gang, but then she told them that she was pregnant. Even though they intended to stick true to their nature as thieves, and practice their skills whenever possible, both of them told the gang that what they wanted right now was to settle down and try their hand at being a normal family, and the first step was having kids of their own, or just one since they weren't entirely sure what they were having yet. This news thrilled Carmelita's parents, as they had been hoping that she would have kids some day and had feared that she was going to drive off any potential boyfriends with her attitude as a police officer, but then they discovered that Sly was in her life and they were more than happy for the two of them.
Carmelita soon discovered that practicing the Cooper Techniques wasn't all that practical while she was pregnant, even though she wanted to stay in shape, and told herself that she'd find the time after their first child was born to make up for the time she missed and burn off the weight in no time. As such the months went by and she gained the weight that was associated with being pregnant, as well as her breasts growing in the process, though she made sure that she was wearing clothing that made this somewhat easier while Sly ensured that one of the rooms was ready for when their first child was born. What neither of them were expecting, however, was for the doctor to tell them, upon one of their checkups, that Carmelita was carrying twins at the moment, so instead of a single child they were going to have two of them, causing Sly to make sure that they had more than enough supplies ready for when the big day came. Carmelita was surprised as well, since she wasn't expecting this to happen at all, but in the end she smiled and let life happen, and she counted themselves lucky that her parents had bought them such a big place to live, that way when the kids were older they wouldn't have to move when there wasn't enough room for two grown kids in the same room.
When the big day finally arrived, and both the gang and Carmelita's parents were there to see the next generation of Coopers, they were in for one more surprise, as one of the kids was a girl and the other was a boy, though what was really surprising about that was what they were. The little girl looked like a fox, just like from the few pictures that Carmelita remembered her mother showing her of the day she was born, but at the same time there were some dark raccoon strips in her tail, dark markings on her arms and legs that matched Sly's, and a raccoon mask marking around her eyes. The little boy, on the other hand, appeared to be a raccoon at first, once again reminding Sly of the few baby pictures that he still had in his possession, but while he still possessed the dark raccoon markings the main coloration of his body was lighter than Sly's was and, at the same time, there was an orange hue to it that resembled Carmelita's coloration. Despite the fact that their children were clearly raccoon-fox hybrids, or fox-raccoon to some people, both Sly and Carmelita didn't care, as they had been waiting for this for a long time, and smiled as they revealed the names that they had come up with, which were Elizabeth and Daniel Cooper.
At first living with two babies was just like the stories that Margret Fox told them about, some sleepless nights where they would wake up dog tired in the morning, but at the same time, since they were constantly being interrupted, it gave Carmelita a chance to actually practice some of the techniques she had learned before she was bothered. Of course Sly also stepped in every now and then, as he didn't want her to work herself to exhaustion, and helped quiet the children when they woke up in the middle of the night, letting Carmelita rest up by sacrificing some of his own sleep in the process. There were also days where they visited Carmelita's parents, letting them spend some time with their grandchildren, and it was clear that neither Elizabeth or Daniel seemed to dislike them, though since they were still young it was hard to tell what they were thinking. Gilda, Derpy, and Diz had to refrain from using their magic around them, since they were barely a year old and couldn't control their bodies very well, though they did enjoy playing around with the end of Diz's tail whenever he was near them, which he didn't seem to mind since they were his brother's kids. Clockwerk, on the other hand, simply stayed in the shadows and watched over them from afar, since he wanted to make sure that the kids didn't suffer like Sly did... and there was the fact that he was a robotic ancient owl that was terrifying in his true form, so he stayed away so there was zero chance that he traumatized the kids and earned Sly and Carmelita's wrath.
As the weeks and months went by Sly and Carmelita were happy with their lives, as their kids made things much more interesting and, despite some hiccups every now and then when one of the kids broke something or puked on the floor, they wouldn't trade their experiences for anything else.
Penelope smiled as she put the finishing touches on the project that she and Bentley had been working on, even though her partner had fallen asleep earlier because Sly and Carmelita's kids had been playing around with the light obstacles that he had designed for them, safe ones so they didn't hurt themselves, leaving her to finish their project. The last six years had been interesting for them, as she got to observe how the gang operated when they weren't under pressure, like they were when they were gathering the other members for their team so they could assault Dr. M's forces, and she had to admit that, even with her added to the mix, the gang operated like a well oiled machine. Sure, there had been a few moments where she had wondered what it would have been like if it had been just her and Bentley, using their brains for whatever they desired and Sly wasn't around to steer them towards justice, but then she would sigh and realize what she was thinking about, that if she demolished the Cooper Gang, by going back and stopping Sly's gang from forming, she'd rewrite history and possibly make it even worse. There was no telling what sort of shape history would have taken had Sly's gang never gotten together, save for the fact that she was sure that she and Bentley would never have met, and she was happy that she had the mind to steer clear of what she had been thinking about.
The only reason she had thought about going back into the past was because she and Bentley had completed their work on a time viewing machine, allowing them to observe a moment in time or a particular part of history, all so they could see the true history of Clockwerk... and, at the same time, they had accidentally created a working time machine, one that they had tested for a few seconds to determine that it was operational before they turned it off, since tampering with time was something they both agreed not to do.
With the final touches put in place, and the machine completed, Penelope put her equipment down and realized that the list of items that they needed to further improve their lab, as they had built one using a fifth of the warehouse that was the Cooper Gang's base of operations, had yet to be fulfilled and that the only store that would take their order was going to be closing in the next hour. As such she sighed and threw a blanket over Bentley, since he was sleeping at the table near where she had been working, and let him a note saying that she was going to take care of the supply order and that she would be back soon, before she put on a jacket and headed outside. As she headed outside the warehouse, and started on her walk towards the store since it wasn't too far away, she reflected how she was the only one of the gang to change over the last six years, despite the fact that Carmelita had retained a small increase to her breasts, and that she had grown up in more ways than one. Back when she joined the Cooper Gang she had been a young adult, but now, six years later, her figure had finally reached maturity and had become a little slimmer while her own breasts had grown as well, meaning that if she tried to pull off something like the 'Black Baron' again she'd be hard pressed to hide her true form... not unless she built a mechanical body or something to completely hide her, but she pushed that thought back into the trash can where it belonged and continued moving.
Despite everything that went through her mind she was able to get to the store, make sure that the order was placed and that it would arrive by the time that she and Bentley felt that they would be needing the parts, and then headed back outside so she could walk back to the warehouse... though only a few minutes later she was stopped by a group of rats that were wearing yellow jumpsuits and some other pieces of gear that made them look like exterminators.
"Ah, Miss Penelope, it is good to see you on this fine night." a voice said, to which Penelope turned around and found a skunk, with short legs, a long torso, a full on white colored mustache and same colored hair, and happened to be wearing a jumpsuit that resembled what the rats were wearing, despite having some green to it, standing behind where she had stopped, "Do you mind if I bother you for a few minutes? I have a proposal that I'd like to talk to you about."
"A proposal?" Penelope asked, though at the same time she knew that she was boxed in, as there was no way she was going to get away from the rats before one of them decided to do something to her, to which she focused on the skunk so she could figure out what his game was, "Why should I listen to you, since you have me surrounded by your lackeys and haven't bothered to tell me your name?"
"Oh, you're right. Where are my manners? I am Cyrille Le Paradox," the skunk said, bowing his head a little, like he was a gentleman or something, before facing Penelope once more, telling her that there was something that he wanted to talk about and that she'd listen, even going as far to make sure that the rats backed up and gave her some space, "you might know me since I am a collector of rare artifacts and that I happen to open a museum here in Paris."
"Right, I remember now." Penelope replied, as it was impossible for her to forget about the museum, because it was something that Sly and Carmelita were working on at the moment, as Interpol believed that the owner wasn't who he said he was and that there might be something dark going on, but she said nothing about that as she faced him, "So, what sort of proposal do you have for me?"
"I'll cut right to the point: I want to use your time machine for my benefit." Le Paradox stated, though at the same time he raised a hand and stopped Penelope before she could say anything, as he didn't have time for this and knew that she would agree once he revealed his hand to her, "There's no use denying that you've had a breakthrough in regards to the ability to travel through time, as I've seen you and that cripple checking out all sorts of books on the subject, and the smile on your face earlier was all the information I needed to know that you have succeeded. There are a number of dates that I want to go back to and retrieve something, or rather send someone I trust to acquire what I am looking for, and all I needed was a reliable way to get to the past and get what I want... though, if you're finding my request unreasonable, then I'll go ahead and call the professional hitman that is currently waiting for my call."
"H... Hitman?" Penelope inquired, though at the same time she didn't like where this was going, as everything that she had heard about Le Paradox appeared to be right, that he was shady and up to no good, and right now she was caught in whatever scheme he was planning.
"You see, I recently learned that Sly Cooper not only got married, but also has had two wonderful children of his very own to love and spend time with," Le Paradox commented, to which he pulled out a tablet and clicked on something before showing the screen to Penelope, where she found that he had an active feed to the exterior of the Cooper house, where Sly, Carmelita, and their kids were sleeping soundly without knowing that someone other than Clockwerk was watching them, "I hired this hitman to take them out in whatever manner he desired, which is usually by killing everyone in a building and planting evidence that it was either the husband or wife who did the deed before killing themselves, to ensure the total destruction of their reputation. Since you don't seem to care about my little request, and haven't said a word about it so far, I guess I might as well call him and..."
"Wait! Don't do it!" Penelope cried out, though as she said that tears formed in her eyes, as she couldn't believe that there was someone like Le Paradox, who would even threaten children to get what he wanted, still out there in the world, before she focused on him, "What is it that you want from me?"
"First, I need your time machine to put my plan into action." Le Paradox stated, to which he smiled as he put the tablet away and pulled out a note that held the address that she was supposed to meet him at later tonight, because the sooner she completed her task the sooner he could enact the next stage of his plan, "Come to that address, with the time machine in your possession, and then I will explain what I am after in the time periods that I have selected... and if you so much as tell anyone about what has happened here, well, I'm sure that you understand what would happen next."
Penelope nodded her head and watched as the goons followed their boss out of the area that they were in, before letting the rest of her tears fall to the ground as she hugged her legs for a few minutes... but when the tears were done she headed back to the warehouse and hoped that Sly and the others would forgive her when they learned what she had been forced to do, if they found out anyway.
When Bentley woke up the following morning, and wasn't surprised to see the blanket thrown over him by Penelope the night before, since this happened more times than someone would think by just looking at him, he discovered that Penelope was gone. That wasn't very alarming, not with the note explaining that she had gone to the store to set a new order for supplies that both of them agreed that they needed, and he simply went about his day like it was normal, which meant more work on the time machine and his side project. Despite the fact that they agreed that having two time machines was dangerous, despite them being locked away in a safe whenever one of them weren't in use, he was very determined to figure out how to bypass the need for an item from the time period that someone wanted to travel to, so someone could head to Ancient Egypt, for example, without needing something from that point in time. Unfortunately he, and by extension Penelope, were no closer to solving how that was supposed to work, leaving the machines in a state where an item was required to head back to the point in history, which was easy for them to acquire since they had access to the Cooper Vault and had at least three thieves that could find what they were looking for.
That same day he met up with Sly and Carmelita, who were slightly concerned when they discovered that Penelope wasn't around, but Bentley waved it off and said that she was likely busy working on one of her biplanes, since they had kept the one from when they entered the ACES Competition, or she had decided to visit Holland once more, as it felt like home to her since she had lived there once the 'Black Baron' one his first competition. As the days went by, and he didn't receive any calls or messages from Penelope concerning where she had wandered off to and where she might have gone, he started to get worried about her and tried to pin her binocucom, since she was a permanent member of the team she had been given one in case she took to the field and was out of range of normal communications, only for that to fail when he found it where she normally left it. He tried a few more ideas that sprung into his head, as he had a number of ways to figure out what had happened to Penelope, and his heart sank when each up came back to him as a failure, making him wonder if she had gone back in time to test her own time machine and hadn't decided to come back, like she was studying something that happened to her.
After two weeks had gone by, and he received the shipment from where it was dropped off, he stopped by his side project started glowing, as he had been studying the Thievius Raccoonus, with Sly and Carmelita's permission when they weren't using it to tell their kids some of the more exciting and less dangerous or strange tales of Sly's ancestors, and the machine informed him that something was wrong. That 'something', as he soon discovered, was that someone was actually tempering with the history of the Cooper Clan, as he turned to some of the pages that Rioichi Cooper wrote and watched as some of the lines that had been written centuries ago unraveled before his eyes, meaning that his thoughts were correct. As such he got his equipment together, made sure that Murray and the rest of the gang was ready for another adventure, and headed out for Sly's house, as he knew that both his friend and Carmelita were going to be annoyed that he was bothering them... and even more so with whoever was trying to erase the history of the Cooper Clan from existence.
When they pulled up to the house, however, he found Daniel and Elizabeth, or 'Beth' as she preferred to be called sometimes, playing outside with Sly observing them, though when Sly noticed the rest of the gang stop in front of the house he smiled and welcomed them inside, while the kids smiled and greeted their aunts and uncles before they all headed inside so Sly could tell Carmelita that they had guests.
"So, Bentley, what's going on?" Sly asked, though he waited until both of his kids were settled down, as they both thought that a story was going to be told, and for Carmelita to arrive, as she sat next to him, before he bothered to ask what had brought them all to their house.
"Sly, Carmelita, I'm afraid that I have bad news," Bentley said, to which he pulled out the Thievius Raccoonus and opened it to the entries that Rioichi wrote, the ones that were still inside the tome, and placed it before the duo, just in time for them to witness both pages have their writing disappear like he had seen earlier, "Someone's tampering with the history of the Cooper Clan, as their currently targeting Rioichi's time period, and the pages of the Thievius Raccoonus are starting to disappear, meaning that the ancestors that wrote the pages didn't write them because something or someone is messing with that ancestor's history."
"That's horrible." Carmelita stated, as both she and Sly knew the stories that were inside the family tome, as did Gilda, Derpy, and Diz while both Daniel and Elizabeth were only beginning to understand what stories were written on the pages on the ancient book, "Is there anything we can do to stop them?"
"Yes, there is." Bentley said, to which he pulled out a picture he had taken and set it on the table, where he revealed a circular device that could be set on something like Murray's van, which it had been originally intended for when he first designed it, "I'm one hundred percent sure that whoever is doing this has a time machine, how I'm not exactly sure since Penelope and I were the only ones that knew this machine had been invented and there's no way that Penelope would betray us, so the only way to counter this is to use my time machine and go back in time to stop whoever is messing with the history of the Cooper Clan. The only problem is that we need an artifact from the time period in question, meaning anything from Rioichi's time period since he's the only one we know is being targeted, and I'm not sure how long it'll take to get something to go back to that point in time."
"It's funny now the world works sometimes." Sly spoke up, to which he got up for a moment and headed into the study area that he and Carmelita had set up, where he returned a few moments later with a catalog of items that were in a nearby museum and put it down in front of Bentley, "We're surveying this museum as a favor to Interpol, since Secretary Sen is positive that the owner is shady and is lying about something, and we actually have our eyes set on a few artifacts to add to the Cooper Vault... and one of them just so happens to be a dagger that looks like it might just be from Rioichi's time period, based on the article and the inlay on the scabbard."
"Are we correct in assuming that you have a plan to get the dagger already?" Gilda asked, because if they knew their brother and his wife, or friend and his wife in the case of Bentley and Murray, they already had a plan of attack and had been getting ready to tell the gang about what they were doing.
"We do." Carmelita answered, though at the same time she picked up her phone, as there was someone they needed to call before they did anything, because there was no way she was going to let her kids get caught up in something that they weren't remotely prepared for, "I'm going to call my mother and see if she and my father will watch the kids for a few days while we sort out this mess... and I'm not going to argue with either of you about it. Neither of you are ready for this sort of adventure and you could get seriously hurt, or worse used as a hostage against your father and I."
"Ok mom." Elizabeth and Daniel said, though while their faces and tones said that they were disappointed that they wouldn't be allowed to come on this adventure with them, for a few seconds anyway, that was later replaced by them recalling all the fun they had at their grandparents' place and they were excited to get going a few moments later.
Bentley smiled as Carmelita made the call and Sly told him everything that they knew about the museum, as it was clear that neither of them had lost their skills over the last couple of years and he knew that they were right to leave the kids in this time period, because if someone was going after the Cooper Clan bringing the two youngest members of the clan to the past was a bad idea... but for now he had to go over their plan of attack so they could get the dagger and head back to Rioichi's time period to see what was going on, and stop whoever was messing with history.
After going over the plan that Sly and Carmelita had come up with, and making a few alterations to it to be sure that it was as good as it could possibly be, Bentley got to work on the team van for a few seconds to make sure that the time machine could work with it, especially since it was designed for that. He was actually impressed that the couple was able to make such a good plan on their own, without him there to correct a few of the errors that he had found, and was also impressed that Murray was able to keep the team van in such good condition, despite the fact that he was in the demolition derby before they called him back to the gang. The only thing he found odd was that the van was much larger than it was on the inside than it was on the outside, as he remembered Diz using his magic on the van when they were out and about during their mission to take out the Klaww Gang, but it actually seemed larger than he remembered, where Carmelita commented that it reminded her of that 'TARDIS' that Judy told her about, from a show that she watched occasionally. It took Bentley a few seconds to see that she was right, as he never considered that before, but at the very least there was enough room for all of them in the van's interior... though he was mainly focused on installing the time machine and making sure that the tests told him that everything was operational, as they should be.
When he finished the tests, however, both of Carmelita's parents arrived to pick up the kids, though they did stick around for a few moments to understand what was going on, because they were surprised by the sudden request and, upon hearing that the Cooper Clan's entire history was in jeopardy, they told both Sly and Carmelita to stop whoever was messing with history, because if they succeeded they might destroy the happiness that the two of them had created. Just as her parents were getting ready to leave Bentley also revealed something else to all of them, that they would be leaving the Thievius Raccoonus in this time period and that it would be in the hands of Carmelita's parents, along with a new communication device so they could see if there were any other changes once they stopped however was messing with Rioichi's time period.
A few hours later, when night fell at last, the gang headed out for the museum and moved into their positions, as this was going to be a quick operation and, if they were lucky, they'd be able to get out of here with the dagger, and any other incriminating evidence that was in there, before the alarm was raised. For the most part Sly and Carmelita would be approaching from the roofs, Murray and Diz would be taking care of the security system after Bentley and Clockwerk took care of what was in the sewers, leaving Gilda and Derpy to make sure that the van was ready for their getaway, where they'd use the time machine to head back to feudal Japan and see who was messing with Rioichi's history. To someone who didn't know the Cooper Gang this plan was simple at it's best, but in reality it was just as complex as the plans that they came up with back when they were facing the Klaww Gang or when they were recruiting more members for the mission to attack Dr. M's forces on Kaine Island. One thing that both Sly and Carmelita had to be mindful of, since they were taking the roofs, was the security choppers that were in the air, as they were really the only obstacles that they had to be worried about at the moment, though they also used some points and the Ninja Spire Jump to bypass a spotlight before using a rope to get out of the roof area that they had been in.
As they did that both Sly and Carmelita watched as Murray, and possibly an invisible Diz, laying flat on the roof of a truck that was delivering items to the part of the building that they needed to head to, so they could smash the security systems, before chuckling as they moved forward, as while they might have changed the plan it appeared that they were still following the overall plan.
The duo continued moving forward after seeing Murray and Diz, where they used the skills that they had learned from the ancient tome to bypass the security measures that were along the path that they were following, even though they had to carefully hide themselves for a moment when a chopper flew close to them, but fortunately it didn't see them and soon enough, when it was gone, they resumed moving. After a few seconds of bypassing the next spotlights they climbed up to the top of a structure and used their canes on the power wire that was above them, allowing them to ride down to the side of the museum, where they carefully jumped off it and grabbed onto the pipe that was in front of them as the wire snapped from the strain of two people using it in such a manner, but they were already on the other side when that happened and the guards in the area didn't seem to notice it at all. The downside was that the pipe also couldn't handle their weight, not like all the other pipes they used on all of their other missions, and it bent backwards until it was parallel with the area they had just come from, to which the two of them pulled themselves up and walked over to the side of the museum once more, where they dropped down so they could sneak around the edge of it to get to the area that Bentley said that they needed to be in... and at the same time they could have sworn that they heard Le Paradox, the owner of the museum, on the other side of the glass, but instead of sticking around they continued moving forward so they didn't get found out.
A few seconds later and they were on top of the museum, to which the two of them carefully made their way over the roof of the building and headed towards the skylight that was right above the dagger that they had come for, and when they found their target they noticed a guard standing in front of it with the key to the lock in his pocket... to which Sly and Carmelita smiled as Sly carefully picked the guard's pocket and swiped the key, before Carmelita knocked him out so they would be able to get the dagger once the others were done with their objectives.
Sly then opened the skylight, allowing them to see the lasers that were blocking the dagger, and waited for the signal that they were allowed to move once more, where he and Carmelita listened to a few bombs going off on Bentley's side of the binocucom, meaning that there were some obstructions that he and Clockwerk needed to tear their way through so they could reach the computer that was their target. Fortunately it sounded like they were able to reach their destination with ease, allowing them to hack into the computer that controlled the gates near where Murray and Diz were waiting, as well as giving them the ability to open the way for Gilda and Derpy to drive the van into position once the dagger had been grabbed, so they could all get out of here as they were picked up at designated locations. Once the hacking part of the operation was taken care of, and Bentley gave the go ahead, both Sly and Carmelita heard the sound of Murray, and a few instances of Diz, beating the stuffing out of the enemies that were in their way, or Diz pulling a prank on them so they wouldn't know that they were under attack by someone. Eventually the sound shifted to Murray hurling things at the junction boxes that were his main targets, while Diz held off the enemies that were trying to stop them from succeeding with their mission... and, once the two boxes were destroyed, Bentley confirmed that the security system was down, which was followed by the lasers turning off.
Sly chuckled for a moment, because the plan had succeeded better than he could have ever hoped for, before he helped Carmelita into the harness that would allow her to be lowered into the room with the dagger, though not a few moments later he pulled her back up and saw that she had the dagger, and had left their calling card behind. From there it was a simple matter to get off the museum's roof and land near where the van was located, especially since Bentley and Clockwerk had sabotaged the alarms and communication system that had been put in place, meaning it would take some time before Le Paradox's men, who clearly had been ill-prepared for such an assault, even realized what was going on. There was also the fact that their foes weren't going to find the van, not with Diz's invisibility powers being used on it and allowing them to disappear from sight, giving them the chance to slip away before any alarms were raised and let Murray, who was in the drivers seat again, get to the area that Bentley wanted to use the time machine in, even though the short drive gave him time to make sure that the dagger was from the correct time period, once Carmelita put it in the receptacle that he had set up.
Once they reached their destination Bentley told Murray to punch it and the gang held on as the time machine aspect of the van awakened thanks to Murray's driving and Bentley's machine, before they slipped through reality and entered an interesting blue colored tunnel... but none of them got comfortable, as the moment they reached the other end they were going to have to hide themselves and figure out what happened to Rioichi, who was attacking his time period, and what they needed to do to set things right.
Upon arriving in the era of Rioichi Cooper the gang discovered that the peaceful village the ancestor had written about now seemed to be a heavily patrolled military base, with guards in samurai armor that happened to be wielding some deadly looking crossbows and other weapons. According to the history written in the Thievius Raccoonus, which the majority of the group knew by heart at this point, Rioichi was not only a Master Thief, but he was also a Master Chef, as he apparently invented sushi and that allowed him to establish a sushi restaurant in the village, which was currently closed and protected by several guards. What Bentley discovered was that Rioichi was currently locked up in a new high level jail, allegedly for serving bad sushi to the Shogun, and that their first course of action, after locating a good spot for their safe house for this venture, was to figure out how they were going to get into the jail and release Rioichi from where the guards had put him, and then they would help restore his history to what it should be by defeating whoever was currently messing with the flow of time.
After taking a moment to get used to their new safe house, which might have been one of Rioichi's old hideouts before he opened the sushi restaurant, Sly and Carmelita were the first ones to leave the safe house, as before they did anything else Bentley needed some recon pictures of the area, the guards, and the restaurant before they really formed a plan of attack. At the same time Clockwerk informed them that he could do something without alerting their enemies of his presence, as he flew off into the distance and used the cover to transform back into his true menacing form, where he returned to the village and landed near the prison, so he would look out at the area and see if he found anything that might put a wrench in their plans. The ancient owl informed them that since there was a version of him hunting all the ancestors, and the one for this period was chasing a lead somewhere else and wouldn't be back for some time, he was able to take it's place and make it look like nothing was out of the ordinary.
Fortunately it didn't take them long to find a lone boar guard that they could take a picture of, without any of the other guards noticing them, and with that one in hand they left the area that the guard was in and continued walking around the village, getting the lay of the land for the others when it was time for them to head out and complete the missions that Bentley assigned them. From there they snapped a picture of the prison itself, or at least of the entrance since they couldn't see anything else, and then continued towards the odd gates, with dragon statues outside it, that they also snapped a picture of, where both Sly and Carmelita wondered what was on the other side. After that they used the ropes and the roofs to get over to where Rioichi's suchi restaurant was located and made sure to get a good picture of the building, though they were both upset that someone was messing with Rioichi's history, as this should be open for Rioichi's regular business and not closed because of a lie, but they'd fix this in due time. When the picture of the suchi restaurant was taken Clockwerk informed them that there was a commotion near the Geisha House, to which the two of them headed out and crossed over the distance between them and the area that the building was located in, where Sly snapped a picture of it as well, just to complete the collection of important areas that Bentley needed to know about.
That was, however, followed by a tiger wearing a black gi that was decorated with golden insignias, along with a pair of swords that were on his back, would scream to the locals that he was a powerful individual in the area and that he had the power to back his claims... but Carmelita, on the other hand, recognized him and the Cuban cigar that he happened to be smoking at the moment, as Judy was hunting for El Jefe, who was a mercenary general from their time period that was responsible for overthrowing several small countries. Unfortunately this confirmed Bentley's fears, that there was someone else that had created a time machine around the same time that he and Penelope did, and that they were using it to damage the history of the Cooper Clan, but both Sly and Carmelita headed back to the safe house to see what sort of plan Bentley came up with to fix this mess.
The plan that Bentley eventually came up with was that the only way to get Rioichi out of the prison was that they needed to collect some armor pieces to outfit at least Sly in a set of armor that matched what the boars were currently wearing at the moment. The first guard that had a spare piece of armor was near the sushi restaurant, allowing Sly to pull out a spare helmet and wander off without being caught, while at the same time Carmelita headed towards the Geisha building and found the second guard behind it, where she swiped the chest portion and wandered off before the strange guard woke up from his slumber. From there Sly found the third guard, who wasn't facing the village and seemed to ignore what was going on around him, allowing him to take the leggings portion of the armor before they returned to the safe house, where they dropped the armor off and let Diz work his magic, as one part of his chaotic powers seemed to include the ability to manipulate things and even shrink whatever he wanted. While he did that, and they waited for the task to be completed, Carmelita wandered around for a moment before Clockwerk, in his miniature form, swooped down and dropped a matching shield for the set they had gathered, to which a slight smile appeared on his mechanical face as he flew off and assumed his task of surveying the area for anything else they might be able to use.
Once the manipulation was complete, and the gang was surprised by how form fitting the armor was now, where Diz told them that he had a lot of practice since he had to modify a good number of his own clothing because of the fact that he had a new tail, which he had since grown used to having in place of his old tail, but in the end Sly headed out with the armor and, just in case things happened, Diz took to the shadows and followed after his brother with his invisibility power, but that didn't stop him from stealing the treasures that were in the pockets of the guards around them.
"You there! Open the door!" Sly commanded, pointing at the boar guard that was standing in front of the prison, as he had managed to get really close to the prison without the guards discovering him and Diz made sure he got up here without needing to take off the armor.
"Hmmph! A little short to be a commander, aren't you?" the boar guard replied, his tone indicating that he didn't believe what was going on at the moment and glared at Sly, who was doing his best to act like all the commanders that he had read about in Rioichi's section of the Thievius Raccoonus, "Who are you?'
"Why, I am.... Major Muggshot!" Sly answered, though at the same time he put the pause in his statement to create some tension and suspense, and since he was sure that their enemy was only focused on his family's past there was no way that they would even realize that something was happening when they heard about this.
"Hmmph! Muggshot?! I've never heard of you!" the boar guard stated, to which he lifted his crossbow and pointed it right at Sly, his actions indicating that he was growing tired of someone pretending to be a guard, even though Sly still had one more card to play before the jig was up.
"You dare question me?!" Sly barked out, taking the persona of a military commander, or at least the best he could do since he had never tried something like this before, and he could see that the sudden change in his attitude caught the boar guard off guard, as he lowered the crossbow as he approached him, "Son, I've been a guard since you were just a squealing piglet!! Wait until I tell the General about this! I hear he LOVES porkchops..."
"Wait! I'm very sorry, sir! I didn't recognize you!" the boar guard quickly said, where he stepped to the side and waved a hand towards the prison entrance that he had been guarding, while at the same time Sly noticed the sweat that was rolling down the sides of his face, "Please go right in!"
Sly, with Diz following his footsteps, marched into the prison and let the door close behind him, though at the same time he decided to keep the armor on for now, despite the fact that Diz was using small bursts of his power to knock out some of the guards that were in their way as he reached the end of the line... which was where they looked up and found a cage that was hanging in the middle of a large open area, making it impossible for any normal thief to get up to where Rioichi was imprisoned.
"Hey! Rioichi Cooper!" Sly called out, because since the guards were knocked out by Diz's power, as in asleep and wouldn't be up for some time, he was able to raise his voice while Diz sought out a way to get to where the Cooper Ancestor was located, "Are you okay?"
"You guards all seem to make very poor jokes!" Rioichi replied, though while his voice was rough and gravelly both Sly and Diz were able to see that the ancestor was a brown furred raccoon that was dressed up in a blue ninja outfit, but he did glace over in Sly's direction at the same time.
"C'mon! I'm not one of those bozos!" Sly stated, though he didn't fault Rioichi for thinking that, because he was still wearing the armor that Diz had worked on, to which he quickly removed it and showed Rioichi his true self, "I'm here to bust you out! The name's Sly...."
"Ah, I see. A fellow ninja! Very good!" Rioichi said, as it seemed that his mood had improved the moment he noticed what Sly was, to him anyway, before he grew serious once more as he continued talking, "You will need to make your way to the Dragon Bridge..."
"Actually, no we won't." Diz interrupted, to which Sly watched as his brother appeared once more and waved his hand, where a number of the metallic doors removed themselves from where they had been bolted down, without even damaging any of it, and built a walkway that connected where Sly was to Rioichi's cage.
"Another fellow ninja... who has the powers of a mystic." Rioichi noted, as for a moment he might have sounded a little surprised, or maybe he was curious as to what was going on, but once the walkway was complete Sly headed up to the cage and freed him, allowing him to leave the cage he had been confined in, "You have some explaining to do..."
Sly chuckled for a moment, because Rioichi was asking for a story that might actually be more than he was expecting, but at the same time he promised his ancestor that they'd tell him what was going on when they were back at the safe house, to which Diz hid himself once more, and did the same to Rioichi, as he donned his armor, before the three of them marched out of the prison. Sly knew that Bentley was already thinking of what they needed to do to restore everything to what it should be in this time period, and make it so Rioichi could write his portion of the Thievius Raccoonus, and he was interested in what sort of plan he had... as well as eventually bringing down whoever was trying to mess with this time period and his family's history, before they figured out who was behind this entire mess.
When Sly, Diz, and Rioichi returned to the safe house, and met back up with the rest of the gang, Rioichi was a little surprised to find that there were five people that were dressed like Sly was and had canes of their own, where he informed the master ninja that he was actually Sly Cooper, as he didn't want to alarm Rioichi earlier while they were talking, and that Gilda, Derpy, Diz, and Carmelita were all members of their clan as well. Rioichi clearly wanted to ask what was going on, as he seemed interested in figuring out why there were so many members of their clan, but he sensed that time was of the essence and got down to business by, somehow, rapidly carving a small wooden statue of El Jefe with a swing of his sword. He confirmed that El Jefe was the source of the village's problems, though Bentley used his connection to the future that they came from and pulled up the record that was attached to the name, where he also confirmed that the tiger was a mercenary and a military strategist of the highest order, so much so that he believed that he could take over a country commanding three blind mice with only plastic spoons. Despite everything that they discovered, from Rioichi and Bentley, the gang agreed on their next course of action, that they needed to set things right and take El Jefe out, and the first course of action was heading back to Rioichi's sushi restaurant and getting it open... and Rioichi also made a slight comment about likely needing more fish before he could reach that point.
During their talk, however, Clockwerk flew into the safe house, in his miniature form, and landed nearby for a few seconds, informing Bentley of what he had seen and heard so far, while at the same time glancing over at Rioichi while he did so, before heading out so he could assume his true menacing form while he continued surveying the village... while at the same time Sly moved out with Rioichi and Carmelita so they could get the sushi restaurant up and running, and whatever Rioichi needed to do to accomplish that.
"Thanks to what El Jefe's done to the village, the front door is the only normal entrance." Sly commented, as he knew that Rioichi had an access point in the fish's eye, but without any of the wires and walkways in place, which he used when he was going out on his heists, the only other entrance they could use was the window above the front door, "We're going to have to get rid of the guards before we can get you inside."
"Maybe we can use the armor again?" Carmelita suggested, because if the armor allowed Sly to get into the prison that Rioichi had been stuck in, without the guard actually questioning him as much as he should have, then maybe it would work here as well, and she could see that Sly was thinking the same thing, "You could approach the guards and then 'relieve' them of their shifts... and then both Rioichi and I can go in there and get the mission underway."
Sly smiled as he dropped down into a small hidden area and slipped back into the magically enchanted armor, though as he started to slip into the armor he glanced out of where he was hiding and noticed El Jefe walk up to the door and no doubt inform the guards that they weren't to let anyone inside the building. When the villain from the future was gone, and the armor was in place, Sly emerged from his hiding place and marched up to the sushi restaurant like he owned the place, where he noticed that the guards were sweating by how he was holding himself and how intimidating his armor was and the glare he was giving them. A few seconds later Sly stopped in front of the pair of guards and informed them that they were dismissed, to which they saluted him and walked out of the area that they were in, heading to a new part of the village to guard while Sly stood there with a smile on his face, as he honestly couldn't believe that the plan to get rid of El Jefe's guards had been that easy, before he assumed the position in front of the door and tapped the shield a few times as he stood there.
The moment Sly signaled them Rioichi ran over to him jumped onto the shield as Sly bent down towards the ground, using the shield to launch his ancestor up to the window, where he opened it and slipped inside the restaurant, before he did the same thing with Carmelita and resumed standing straight as the two of them disappeared into Rioichi's base of operations and closed the window behind them.
"I must admit, you have a nice looking place," Carmelita said, as the part of the restaurant they were in was just as the Thievius Raccoonus said it was, while at the same time she noticed the door on the other side of the room had a lock that could only be opened by the knives that Rioichi used all the time, before she glanced back at Rioichi as he pulled the rug up and pulled his cane out from where he had been hiding it, "and that is an interesting place to hide your cane."
"No one checks under the rug." Rioichi replied, as that was the entire reason he had picked such a place to hide his cane, both when he was supposed to be the owner of a sushi restaurant and when he had been accused of serving bad sushi to the Shogun, before he swung it around for a few seconds as he readied himself for their mission.
Carmelita nodded as she followed after Rioichi, as he climbed up one of the bamboo stalks that were growing inside a pot and then used the Ninja Spire Jump to move forward, before using his own enhanced focused jump to get over to a fan that allowed him to get on top of the structure in the middle of the room. Fortunately she, just like the rest of the family, had a skill that separated them from the rest of the Cooper Clan, as she had developed a more powerful jump when she was originally chasing Sly, a 'Mega Jump' as Judy called it, to compensate for her lack of skills, since she didn't know how to use Sly's techniques for a good number of years. When she joined them to chase after the Klaww Gang, and actually ran with them, that was when she found that she had learned a few of the Cooper Clan's techniques by simply watching Sly and the others, turning the Mega Jump into her personal skill that she would likely write into the Thievius Raccoonus at some point in the future. She braced herself for a moment and jumped off the spire point that Rioichi had landed on, allowing her to reach the fan in question, before doing it again and landed beside the Cooper ancestor, who smiled at her before moving forward again, where Carmelita smiled as well, as she was happy to have impressed Rioichi by her ability to keep up with him, before following after him as he sought out the guard that had the first knife.
As they entered the next part of the restaurant, and Rioichi made his way behind the guard that was carrying his carving knife, Carmelita noted that the Cooper Ancestor moved with the grace that the family tome spoke about and actually adapted well to the new spotlights that were in his restaurant, which he was going to take down once this mess was over with, but she did smile when he recovered his knife and knocked out the guard. From there it was a simple matter to open the door and slip into the next part of the restaurant, where they took turns using the small statues to get over a laser grid and then knocked out the guard at the end of the line, before jumping up to a pair of rails that allowed them to get behind the guard that had the second knife. It was in that moment that Carmelita showed Rioichi what she knew about taking things from people's pockets, as she carefully extracted the coins with her cane, which was now second nature to her at this point in time, and removed the thing fillet knife, which she handed over to the elder Cooper, who used it to unlock the door near them and allowed them to press onward. Behind that door rested another laser grid, this time with moving lasers that forced them to time their jumps perfectly, though that was nothing for Rioichi and Carmelita, as they were both able to get over the obstacle without being hit by any of the lasers, meaning that the guards wouldn't notice what they were doing.
The next room had three guards standing around inside it, though that wasn't a challenge for the two of them, as not even a few minutes later all of the guards that had been in the room had been taken care of and they were already moving on to the next part of the restaurant, so they could complete their mission. After that they quickly made their way through another laser grid with moving lasers, allowing them to find the guard that was carrying Rioichi's cleaver and take it from him, before knocking him out and inserting it into the door that was nearby, which in turn allowed them to pull the lever and restore power to the entire restaurant.
"You are a talented kunoichi," Rioichi commented, as the walk out of the restaurant, via a path that only Rioichi knew about so they didn't have to worry about any modern day traps, gave them some time to talk and clarify some things that had been bugging him, "are you like the others? Adopted into the Cooper Clan? Or are you a member of their group?"
"You could say that I'm adopted, even though you'd be partly wrong." Carmelita replied, to which they paused for a moment and she reached towards her neck, where she pulled out a chain necklace that had a special ring tied to it, so that if she had to be a thief she would keep the ring Sly gave her close to her at all times, "Allow me to properly introduce myself, I am Carmelita Montoya Cooper, formerly Carmelita Montoya Fox. Sly is actually my husband."
"Truly?" Rioichi asked, as he had seen the look of love in the younger raccoon's eyes when they returned to the safe house, when he looked upon Carmelita, and knew that they were definitely made for each other, even though the nod that followed confirmed his suspicions, "He is lucky to have you. It is good to see the clan thriving in the future, with five strong ninja practicing the techniques I and the others before me wrote into the ancient tome."
"Actually, there's seven living Coopers at the moment," Carmelita said, to which she noticed that Rioichi was looking at her with some interest, meaning that he was surprised by the number and had to be wondering why he hadn't met the other members yet, "the ones you haven't met are our kids Daniel and Elizabeth Cooper. The reason they aren't here with us is because we left them in the future, because they're only a little over five years old and only just started reading about the various techniques that you and the other ancestors wrote into the Thievius Raccoonus... and we also left them in the future since we're dealing with someone who wants to destroy the history of the Cooper Clan, so they won't be used as hostages against us."
"A wise decision." Rioichi replied, though he could see that Carmelita missed her kids already, meaning that she loved them and would have done anything for them, but instead of focusing on that he noticed that they were nearing the end of the passage and pushed the hidden door open, allowing Carmelita to exit the restaurant first before following after her, but they were surprised when they spotted Bentley and Murray heading to the safe house... and Murray happened to be pulling a cart of fish at the same time.
"I didn't think they'd take your earlier suggestion seriously." Carmelita commented, as she was sure that there were some leftover fish that Rioichi could have used, that weren't bad due to his imprisonment, before heading to his fishing spot to get more for the future.
"It was not a suggestion, it was a statement." Rioichi said, because at this point he was going to have to clear out all the fish that had been left in his restaurant and replace it at some point in time, though he smiled when she looked at what the duo was able to collect, "Their load will keep me going for a few weeks, before I need to replenish my stores myself, and I am grateful for their assistance."
Carmelita nodded her head in agreement to that, as the Cooper Gang had been great allies to her and Interpol when she was still in law enforcement, though before she could say anything else they spotted Diz flying overhead with what appeared to be one of the geisha costumes, from the geisha house that they had taken pictures of. When they returned to the safe house, and the fish were put in an area where they would be safe for Rioichi in the future, Bentley informed them that they were taking Madam Geisha's costume for a few moments and making sure that Murray could fit in it to get some information from El Jefe, since the tiger liked to visit her and had no idea that she was on vacation at the moment. The downside of that was that Diz noticed that since Madam Geisha was a rhino, and Murray was a hippo, there was a size difference that might be noticed by someone that knew the owner of the shop, but fortunately he also had a way for them to get around that. In that moment Rioichi got an understanding of Diz's powers, about the same understanding that everyone else had when they thought about his powers, as Diz allowed the chaotic properties of his magic to pick up one of the rings that he was carrying and enchanted it with something special... so when the spell was complete, and he had Murray put it on, the air around Murray shimmed and in his place was Madam Geishae, much to their surprise.
"I spent a few minutes studying everything and everything that was inside the geisha house," Diz explained, though at the same time Murray glanced down at himself in surprise, especially since the ring seemed to have faded away and had been replaced by a small golden item that belonged to the attire he was wearing, "With that ring on you'll not only look like Madame Geisha, but you'll sound like her as well... and, more importantly, you'll be able to fit into her costume without having to worry about something happening to you or it."
"An illusion spell... interesting." Bentley said, staring at Murray for a moment, before he ducked behind one of the hiding areas of the safe house and slipped into the costume that Diz had taken from the geisha house, "Murray, once you're ready you should head out for the geisha house and see if you can't get anything from El Jefe when he arrives for his meeting with Madame Geisha."
"O... Okay Bentley." Murray replied, to which the gang stared at the direction that the voice came from, as the spell had also modified his voice as well, making it impossible for anyone to determine that he actually wasn't Madame Geisha, before he walked out in her costume with an odd blush on his face.
Rioichi, despite not actually going to the geisha house to see what it was about, knew the makeup that was associated with the geisha and helped Murray put it on, though once it was in place Murray, or 'Madame Geisha', walked out of the safe house for the geisha house, where Rioichi went along to see if he could figure out what the guards would think of Diz's work in hiding Murray's true form. Apparently in anticipation for this venture, since he knew that the first time period they would be heading to was ancient Japan, Bentley had Murray practice one of the most popular routines that the geisha performed, though at the same time the rest of the gang didn't want to know if it was for their venture or for his own interests, and he wasn't going to say anything. It wasn't long before the gang could hear the sounds of Murray starting the routine with the guards that were in the building, where Rioichi stayed in the shadows for a few seconds before reporting that they were all somehow enthralled by Murray's dance, as he was able to step out of the shadows and the guards ignored his presence... and, after some time, the guards seemed to be overly excited, as each of them started throwing the currency of the time period onto the floor that Murray was dancing on, flexed their muscles, and pulled out roses that they either put into their mouths or threw onto the stage.
Once the routine was done Murray stayed inside the building, as El Jefe would be coming soon enough and it was best to greet him accordingly, allowing Rioichi to return to the safe house while Bentley headed out with his RC Car, which he had modified with the ideas that Penelope had come up with and his own ideas, making him sigh as he wondered where she could have gone.
About an hour later Bentley, who was staying on one of the rooftops that the guards didn't bother to patrol for some odd reason, spotted El Jefe walking through the village and smiled as he deployed his RC Car, which he used to follow after their enemy, while at the same time using the chicken disguise he had created to slowly bypass the guards that were happened to be standing on the path that he was following. When El Jefe stopped for a few moments, to stare at the prison according to what the camera was showing him, he made a comment that the prison paled in comparison to his 'statue fortress' and that the gate switch was under the bridge, giving him more information for the future. A few minutes later El Jefe stopped in front of the fishing cave that Bentley and Murray had gotten their fish from earlier, where he said something about having sealed them and that his Dragon Gates were invincible as long as his lazy guard didn't get distracted by sushi, another useful piece of information for Bentley's plan, and then El Jefe revealed that the switches for the Dragon Gates were actually in the mouths of the dragon statues. The most interesting part that Bentley discovered was that El Jefe was definitely working for someone else, that much he and the others had figured out after finding out who the tiger was, and that he was looking for Rioichi for a specific 'package', something that they needed to figure out at some point in time.
When El Jefe stopped at the geisha house, where Murray was waiting for him, he found Madame Geisha standing outside and bowed for a moment, while at the same time kissing 'her' hand for a few moments, allowing Murray to grab the scroll that was on the tiger's back and toss it to Bentley... and allowed him to figure out that the target that El Jefe was looking for was Rioichi's cane, which only told Bentley that they needed to finish setting things up for their final operation and then they would restore Rioichi's time period and his section of the ancient family tome.
While Murray was distracting El Jefe inside the geisha house, and apparently some of the other guards that had come to see 'Madame Geisha' dance, Bentley had one more objective that they needed to complete before they could move forward with his plan to take out the person that was messing with this time period. For this he enlisted Rioichi, Derpy, and Gilda, because the item he needed was inside the cave that he and Murray had gone fishing in and they were the only ones that could climb the walls, mostly since Diz was keeping an eye on the guards and Sly had gone to where Clockwerk was to see if he noticed anything odd, or if the Past Clockwerk had come back. Since Rioichi was nearby when that part of the conversation had been said, however, Bentley noticed something odd, just like the others noticed, and that was the fact that the Cooper Ancestor didn't seem to care or seem phased by the fact that they were working with someone that had hunted down him and his family, not to mention the ancestors that came before him.
"You're sure taking this well." Bentley said, as he honestly wasn't expecting Riioichi to be so calm when he learned that the mechanical owl was actually the one that had been the bane of the Cooper Clan, even though the Coopers had always beaten him every step of the way, according to what the ancient owl told him and the others.
"Bentley-san, this is a time of magic and monsters." Rioichi replied, speaking of his own time period for a moment, which those that had read the Thievius Raccoonus realized that some of the stories that he had penned into the tome must have been real, even if they hadn't necessarily believed them when they first read them, "There are god-born among both the nobles and the peasants of the land, and go on to do good for the land, while others use their talents for evil. El Jefe has brought metal monsters to this village, ones that have long since disappeared since his arrival, so it is not hard to imagine that you would have some as well... and that one might be the ancient foe of the Cooper Clan."
Bentley stared at Rioichi for a moment, trying to figure out if he was being serious or if he was just messing with them, but since time was of the essence right now, as there was no telling when El Jefe would be done at the geisha house, he let the trio leave the safe house as he returned to his preparations for the final battle with El Jefe. The trio, on the other hand, made their way through the village and headed for the cave where Murray and Bentley had gone fishing, though as they did that they, true to their nature as thieves, made sure to pocket the treasure that the guards had in their pockets before even drawing close to their destination. When they arrived at the cave, however, they found some rats in yellow suits patrolling the area, ones that Gilda and Derpy recognized as Le Paradox's men from the museum Sly and Carmelita stole the dagger from, meaning that someone knew that they were here and were trying to stop them. At the same time the three of them remained back and both Gilda and Derpy pulled out their binocucoms, before beckoning Rioichi to do the same with the one that he had been given earlier, even though this was the first time he actually needed to use the device that Bentley had given him.
As the three of them connected to the safe house, and established a connection with Bentley, they found their gazes being drawn to a sinister looking plant that was high up on the wall above the area that they were in, meaning that it was going to be their job to grab something from it before the mission started.
"Okay guys, we need to collect some samples from those strange plants growing high on the cave walls." Bentley informed them, confirming what Gilda and Derpy had been thinking since they entered the cave, while at the same time Rioichi just stared at the target like he was charting his path up to where it rested, "Commonly known as the Spiky Wall Climber, it secretes a mild toxin we can use to make sushi rolls that will put any guard to sleep instantly. Just be careful not to be overcome yourselves..."
"Bentley-san, did I not explain..." Rioichi started to say, but at the same time both Gilda and Derpy brought their palms to their faces, because while Bentley was used to telling them and the rest of the gang to be careful about something, as he didn't want anything to happen to them, Rioichi seemed to have a pretty high opinion of himself and continued to repeat a certain phrase that was growing old real fast.
"I know, I know. You're a Ninja Master." Bentley stated, though at the same time he guessed that he might as well just give up even attempting to tell his friends to be careful when Rioichi was around, especially when the mission involved him and that would only prompt him to repeat himself, making him realize something about Sly.
"Hai! Now, allow me to show you how it's done." Rioichi said, to which he put away the binocucom that he had been given and sneaked forward, slipping into the shadows while he moved around the guards, who seemed to have no idea that he was even there as he started to make his way up to the first of the two plants that Bentley had identified.
"Well, now at least we know where Sly gets it from." Gilda commented, to which both Derpy and Bentley nodded their heads, as they both understood what she was talking about and confirmed that they had been thinking the same thing as Rioichi moved forward, though that was before she and Derpy put their binocucoms away and headed out for the remaining plant that Bentley had spotted earlier.
While Rioichi silently climbed the wall that the first plant was located on, without alerting the guards to his presence, both Gilda and Derpy used a technique that they had learned over the last couple of years, one that allowed them to fly without making a single noise, meaning they could flap their wings as much as they wanted and no one would hear them as they made their way towards the second plant. Thanks to their ability to fly the sisters were able to bypass the wooden spike traps that erupted from part of the ground, didn't need to jump on the large lily pads that were floating in the water, or mess around with the electrifying insects that Murray and Bentley had dealt with the last time they were in. As such they were able to reach the plant in no time, where Derpy struck it with her cane and caused it to expel the seed that they had come here for, where Gilda formed a Wind Blade and severed the connection between the plant and the purple seed, allowing them to gather what they came for, backtrack the same way they moved forward, and rejoined Rioichi as he made his way out of the cave and headed back towards the safe house... as now that they had all the ingredients that he needed, and his restaurant was open again, he'd be able to make sushi and get the show on the road.
The moment they returned to the safe house Bentley told them that it was time for them to put their operation in motion, to which Rioichi headed back to his restaurant and prepared some special sushi rolls for the guards that were on duty at the Dragon Gates. With those special rolls given to the guards, who suspected nothing when they chowed into them and were knocked out within moments after devouring them, the gang was able to move into position and get the show on the road, especially since they needed to take out El Jefe. The first order of business was picking the pocket of the only remaining guard and take the key that he was holding onto, which was given to Sly since it would take some time for the others to get into position, and he was more than happy to relieve the guard of the key he was carrying, including knocking him out. Once that was done Sly tossed the key into the air and Derpy grabbed it, where she dropped down in front of one of the locks and undid it, opening the dragon mouth that was in front of Gilda, before doing the same thing to the one that Sly was standing in front of... and while Gilda used her power over wind to throw the fireball back into the mouth it came from, opening her section of the gate in the process, Sly donned the samurai armor and used it's shield to do the same thing.
A few moments later, with both of the dragon mouths defeated, the two locks on the gate came undone and the actual gate opened before their eyes, though as that happened the rest of the gang caught up, with Clockwerk in his smaller form, and together they stormed the palace that El Jefe had to be hiding in... and Murray also took off the ring that Diz gave him, so he could fight their enemies as 'The Murray' and not as 'Madame Geisha'. When they reached the palace, however, they came to a stop when they noticed a large statue of El Jefe in the palace area, meaning that his ego was as large as they had assumed it was, but then all of them stopped when they noticed a blimp rise out of the area between the road they were walking on and the palace. Bentley's eyes widened as he noticed the mechanical components on the exterior, as it was impossible to not recognize the time machine that looked like the one that they had used to come back to this point, and both Sly and Carmelita noticed Le Paradox's marking on the blimp as well, something that they snapped a picture of for when they got back to the present, as this was more evidence against the museum owner that Secretary Sen could use against him... how they weren't entirely sure, but there were sure that he'd find a way to use the picture, and any others like it, to his advantage.
A few moments later they stepped onto the bridge that would allow them to cross over to the palace, just like they had figured out earlier, and standing at the other side of it was El Jefe, puffing away on one of his cigars, but at the same time that raised some red flags for the group, as he shouldn't have known that they were coming just yet, not unless the two dragon mouths had a modern alarm hidden inside them.
"End of the line, Cooper!" El Jefe stated, though it was unclear if he was talking to Sly or Rioichi, as he wasn't looking at either of them and seemed to be focused on the group as a whole, before pulling on his cigar and loosed a puff of smoke into the air as he turned towards the sky for a few seconds, "Get them you fools!"
As the rat soldiers dropped into the air, and an iron gate fell over the entrance that would take them to the palace as El Jefe walked away from them, the majority of the gang stood their ground as the rats came at them, while at the same time Rioichi climbed over the edge and headed for the controls that would allow them to raise the object that was now blocking their path. While most of the gang focused on the rats that were currently in front of them, and knocked them out accordingly, Gilda, Derpy, and Diz used a small bit of their power to knock out the soldiers that were dropping into the area from the blimp, making sure not to hit the blimp since damaging it might actually damage something instead of fixing what was going on at the moment. It wasn't long before the part of the gate that El Jefe had lowered to prevent them from following after him raised back into position, where they watched as Rioichi joined them as the last of the rat soldiers fell into the pile that Murray had created, just to show the others aboard the blimp that it was a bad idea to mess with the Cooper Gang, before they resumed walking forward and continued towards the palace.
On the other side of the gate El Jefe surprised them by falling on Rioichi, who had been at the head of the pack, and removed his cane from his possession, before tossing the Cooper Ancestor at them, put the cane behind his back, and drew his swords, where he put them against the wooden bridge and ran away from them, where flames danced on the bridge as he retreated... until he reached the other side and the majority of the bridge collapsed, even though something like this wouldn't actually stop them from following after him. Despite the fact that Diz could manipulate the bridge and change it into a better walkway for them, as it was well within his power at this point, Bentley had him, Sly, Carmelita, Gilda, and Derpy go after El Jefe, allowing them to search for additional clues before they headed back to the Dragon Gates and watched the battle that was going to happen. As such the five of them crossed over the destroyed bridge, which was easy for three of them thanks to the fact that they had wings, while Sly and Carmelita used the Ninja Spire Jump to get across the burning gap, before the five of them approached the palace that was in front of them and started to walk towards the base of the large El Jefe statue... where they spotted the real El Jefe sitting on a throne at the base of the statue, and for some reason he was petting a pigeon that looked spooked by what was going on.
"Hey, Cooper Gang, what do you think of my statue?" El Jefe asked, to which the five of them immediately wondered if he was buying time for Le Paradox, who had to own the blimp that was in the air near the palace, while at the same time noticing that he still had Rioichi's cane.
"It looks like a real pigeon magnet." Carmelita commented, as that was true, there were a number of pigeons already gathering around it, including the one that was near El Jefe at the moment, before she considered something else when she noticed the size of the statue, "That, or maybe it's compensating for something."
El Jefe growled as he knocked the pigeon away and jumped into the air, grabbing onto a rope that allowed him to head to the top of the statue, which was still under construction by the looks of it, and the gang easily caught up with him, since three of them could fly and that they could carry the other two up to where their enemy was waiting. When they reached the point where El Jefe wanted to fight them, with both his blades drawn, he surprised them by revealing that he could throw a cluster of fireballs from one of the blades and set the area that they were heading through on fire, just like he had done to the bridge, and they had to be careful as they charged at him. What was interesting was that El Jefe climbed into a flat area and seemed to meditate for a few seconds, giving the five of them time to catch up with him, and he even commented that they were starting to annoy him, which was where Sly revealed that they had that sort of effect on all criminals, regardless of whether their current target was cowardly or not, and despite his words the tiger stood up and drew his swords on them once more.
When the battle started the five of them discovered that the second blade that El Jefe was carrying seemed to call the power of lightning to his side, but that was when the tiger's eyes widened when Derpy grinned and flexed her own power, drawing all of the lightning in the area to her and taking any sort of power that he might attempt to use against them during this battle. Despite that fact he continued to attack them, where they noticed that simply attacking him with their canes wasn't enough and Sly, usually the one that figured things out when his magical siblings didn't realize something, donned the armor to knock the fireballs back towards the tiger, opening his weaknesses so the five of them could beat the daylights out of him to the best of their ability, before he got up and resumed the battle once more. When El Jefe ran to the next platform that he wanted to fight on, and the five of them followed after him, he revealed that he had a few other attacks up his sleeve, as one was a wave of fire that erupted from where he was standing and required that Gilda, Derpy, and Diz using their magic to create barriers to protect them, while Carmelita hid behind Sly while that happened. The lightning based attack that he intended to use against them was drained of it's power as Derpy took it as well, causing him to growl at her in the process as she smiled at him, but that didn't stop him from attacking them... and, just like the last time, Sly's use of the armor allowed him to knock El Jefe back a bit so the five of them could beat him up and force him to move to the next platform.
El Jefe's attempt to smash them with the large crane nearby failed and actually gave them a walkway to follow, which allowed Sly and Carmelita to follow after the tiger like a Cooper would while the three with wings followed after them from the air, causing the tiger to growl as they reached where he wanted to finish their fight... and, since he only had a new lightning based attack that Derpy took the power away from, it was rather easy to beat him into the floor as he swords fell away from him. With El Jefe defeated, and he had collapsed in front of them, Sly moved to grab Rioichi's cane, but as he did that a canister dropped on the platform and both Derpy and Diz grabbed him and Carmelita before pulling them into the air as the thing exploded, covering the platform in some sort of gas as the five of them moved out of the way. A few moments later they watched as a rat soldier dropped into the area and removed Rioichi's cane from El Jefe's body, where he ascended back to the blimp as quickly as he had arrived, and when the pair of them had returned to the blimp, and had dropped a golden sheriff's badge that Gilda grabbed, before the blimp activated it's time machine and vanished to whatever time period they were attacking next.
Before they did anything else Diz bound El Jefe with his magic and the gang, after apologizing to Rioichi for failing to get his cane back, returned to the future, where they turned the mercenary over to Secretary Sen and briefed him on the situation regarding Le Paradox and the fact that he had the might to hire an army to attack the past. Sure, it was a hollow victory for most of them, because they were now fighting a formidable foe that was one step ahead of them, but it gave Interpol enough ammunition to start immediately seizing whatever Le Paradox had in the future, so when he returned he'd have nothing left to his name before his arrest. Once that was done Carmelita opened the line to her parents, who were watching the kids and keeping an eye on the Thievius Raccoonus, and both she and Sly were happy to see that their kids were just fine and that nothing had happened since they went back to feudal Japan, and that was when they were informed that there was another shift to the family tome. They were shocked to hear that the next time period that was being targeted was the Old West, where 'Tennessee Kid' Cooper was based, and to some it appeared that luck was on their side, with the sheriff's badge that had been dropped, but Diz, on the other hand, had to wonder if they were actually being used by their enemy to find the items that he was looking for.
Regardless of what Le Paradox was planning Bentley calibrated the time machine and soon they were heading back to the Old West, so they could figure out how that time period differed from what was recorded in the Thievius Raccoonus, find out who was attacking the area that Tennessee Kid Cooper was living in, and see what they needed to do in order to make things right... all while trying to figure out what sort of game Le Paradox was playing and why he was attacking the time periods that he and his men were targeting.
Thanks to the time machine it wasn't long before the gang arrived in the Old West, where they immediately started their search for Tennessee Kid Cooper, a legendary outlaw whose bank robberies were some of the most daring and well recorded entries in the Thievius Raccoonus. Fortunately for them Bentley was able to determine that one of the buildings, a clock tower as it turned out, was the ideal spot for them to hide out in while they conducted their search, so they hid the van where no one would find it and started looking around town for anything that might point them to where the Cooper Ancestor was located. It didn't take them long to find out what happened to Tennessee, as each of them found that all of his wanted posters had either been ripped down and discarded or covered up by another poster, ones that bared the likeness of a new sheriff that had celebrated the capture of Tennessee by putting his picture up around town, informing them that history had been altered since Tennessee had never been captured. Since the local sheriff had such an ego, one that none of the gang liked, they knew that the first order of business was to figure out how they were going to break Tennessee out of prison, figure out who the sheriff was and if he was from the future, and where Tennessee's cane was located, since that might be the reason behind his history being altered.
"So, what's the plan Bentley?" Sly asked, because from what he and the others had seen, in the short amount of time that they had been in the town, he knew that things weren't looking good for his ancestor, and by 'weren't looking good' he meant that they were planning on executing him soon enough.
"Since they're already rigging a noose for Tennessee, we don't have time for a complicated plan." Bentley told them, which just confirmed what all of them had found out as they searched the town for signs of the ancestor, before he revealed to them what he was thinking about, "All my data points to one thing... the quickest route inside that prison is to get one of you arrested!"
"Are you sure about this?" Carmelita inquired, as she knew from her own training that Coopers hated being caught by the law, unless the law enforcement agent in question was someone that they were eying for a long time, sort of like how Sly had been so focused on her while she tailed him and his gang, "Isn't there anything else we can do?"
"Sorry, but it's the only way that we'll be able to reach Tennessee in time." Bentley replied, knowing that he was asking a lot of one of his friends, as all of them were seasoned thieves and not one of them liked the idea of being thrown behind bars, not even Carmelita, who had been a cop before joining the gang, "There's just one problem: They're holding him in the Maximum security wing. To get yourself thrown in there, one of you are going to have to gain 'Outlaw' status, which means that you'll need to make sure you build a rep before they catch you! Otherwise, they'll throw you in with the common criminals."
"I'll do it." Diz said, causing the gang to turn towards him for a moment, where he pulled out a silver ring and slipped it onto his left pointer finger, to which his appearance was covered for a few seconds before they were allowed to see him once more, only this time he looked like a raccoon that was native to this part of the world while also making sure that he didn't steal any of Tennessee's looks, even though he was now a she, "I'm the only thief here that even has some experience in being captured by the law, since Secretary Sen was the one that caught me all those years ago, and I've been wanting to try and bust someone out of prison... besides, with my chaotic powers it should be easy to get Tennessee out of there. So, what do I need to do first to get noticed around here?"
"Well, since you're so eager, I'd start with defacing Sheriff Toothpick's posters." Bentley stated, though at the same time he opened his computer and started making a list of what objects he knew that would bother the sheriff, thus giving Diz the status he, or rather she, needed once the entire list had been crossed off, "Once that's done I'll have another target for you to hit."
Diz nodded and headed outside, feeling a little odd about her new form since it didn't have any wings, but managed to walk and run like Sly and Carmelita did, where she jumped over the train tracks and approached the side of the building that was across from where their safe house was located. Once she was there she smiled and summoned some modern paint cans and some brushes, where she went to town on the poster and made sure that it made Toothpick look like he was a weakling and not the strong man that he was proclaiming that he was. The second poster she found showed the sheriff thinking about something, where she used her brushes and paint to make it look like an arrow was going through his head and that his eyes were messed up, as well as changing the description to match the new look. From there she made her way towards the next poster, in one of the outer parts of the town, and made sure that it looked like the sheriff was sticking his tongue out while holding a fish, where she heard some chuckles from the gang, since they could see what she saw with the binocucom, as she headed out for the next target. While she headed out for the fourth poster she spotted Clockwerk landing on one of the taller areas of the town, where no one would think to look, and knew that the owl was keeping taps on their new enemy... while anyone that was familiar with the Cooper Clan's history might assume that he was the Clockwerk from this time period, searching for Tennessee.
It wasn't long after she spotted Clockwerk that she found the next poster, where she made Toothpick seem weaker than what his poster was trying to show, the fifth one she made him seem older than what he actually was, and the sixth and final poster she changed including covering the bull the sheriff was riding and made it seem like he was in a cast and knocked out of action... though once that was done she moved behind some barrels after the owl contacted her, as he found an irritated Toothpick staring at one of the posters that two of the guards were laughing at.
"Now this really chaps my hide!" Toothpick, who was a short armadillo that was dressed up in the attire of a sheriff, stated, while at the same time held one of his guns out as he stared at the defaced poster, before growling as he turned his gaze towards his guards, "I'm gonna find this 'artiste' and bust his thumbs! And maybe his pinkie."
"You've definitely got under his skin, Diz. I don't think he realizes that you're a girl either." Bentley commented, as Toothpick was likely acting like the other people of this age, where ladies didn't seem to do much and it was generally men that were the outlaws, "You ready for phase two?"
"Absolutely!" Diz replied, as it had been some time since she had pulled off any sort of prank, because the last time she tried Secretary Sen had caught her and she didn't dare to do anything to her family after everything that they had been through, "I'm going to enjoy this more than I should."
"Apparently, the sheriff also loves lollipops," Bentley said, where at the same time Diz raised an eyebrow, as she had the feeling that she knew what he was going to suggest, because she had some ideas forming in her mind already, "but his favorite is a particular Cuban variety which has to be shipped in specially. Supposedly they taste like rice and beans."
"Really?" Diz asked, though that was because out of all the members of the Cooper Gang she and Murray were the only ones that ate the oddest combinations of food, but at the same time she couldn't recall ever having tasted something that was a combination of rice and beans, "Go on."
"Right... I forgot who I was talking to." Bentley stated, as he was reminded of what Diz and Murray did, especially since Diz had a habit of turning her drinks into chocolate milk whenever she wanted, something that he could never figure out and pushed the thought back into it's hole, as they needed to move quickly, "Anyway, if we clean out his stash, he'll have to wait weeks for the next shipment, and that should really tick him off!"
Diz made her way through the town, carefully stealing the various items that were in the guards' pockets and storing them inside her own personal dimension, one that wasn't connected to the Cooper Vault, before even approaching the open case that Toothpick's entire lollipop stash was in, where she grabbed all of them and dropped the bag into the dimension as well, while keeping one for herself while she worked. After a few moments she felt that the flavor of the lollipop wasn't as bad as some of the gang thought it was, as she heard noises of disgust when Bentley revealed what the combination was, and she kept it in her mouth as she made her way over to a banner that had Toothpick's name on it, where she stood on some nearby rocks and stared at it as she connected back up with Bentley. To her it looked like the sheriff was going to throw himself a party of some kind, to celebrate Tennessee's capture, and here she was, ruining his mood on his big day, which brought a smile to her face as she pulled the lollipop out for a moment while she went over the next stage of their plan.
"Alright, this is going perfectly!" Bentley said, his tone indicating that Toothpick must have already checked on his stash of candy and found it emptied, meaning that she must have shot up a rank or two in the process, which was the whole reason she was doing this, "You'll be locked up in no time!"
"Normally, I'd be trying to avoid that, but for family I'll do anything." Diz replied, and she meant it, as she had done some interesting things with her powers since she joined the Cooper Gang and found her true family, before she focused on the task at hand, "So, what's next on our agenda?"
"I'm sure that you noticed it by now, but this Sheriff Toothpick is his own biggest fan!" Bentley informed her, which she had seen earlier, as the posters promoting himself were hard to miss since she was the one that defaced them, but she let him talk without interrupting him, "In fact, it looks like he's throwing himself a festival and it's in full swing! If you take that banner down, I'm sure it'll be the final straw!"
"Then I'm going to rain on this guy's parade." Diz said, though at the same time she wished that she could just manipulate some of the clouds and pour chocolate milk over the guards and Toothpick, just to really piss him off, but since that couldn't be traced to her she decided to shelve the thought for later.
Fortunately it wasn't hard for her to get over to the banner, which was hanging from some wire that was near a bridge, and it was painfully easy to whack the clothespins that were keeping it connected to the high wire, though not a few seconds later she stood on the wire and watched as the banner floated off in the breeze... and she could see Toothpick and two of his guards staring at her, with the sheriff looking really pissed off.
"Hold your fire, boys! That there's the scribblin', lolly-thievin', outlaw I been looking for!" Toothpick stated, knowing that his guards might be a little trigger happy, though at the same time Diz slipped her cane into her storage area and finished off the lollipop that she had been eating, before jumping down into the area behind the sheriff, "Ah. Well, amigo, you just booked yourself a permanent room in the stony lonesome!"
Diz purposely let the two guards fit her with her own 'jailbird' attire, which was a little loose considering that it was made for a man and not a lady and came complete with a large stone sphere that she had to lug around, but she could deal with it, especially since her thief attire was safely hidden in her storage area for later and she let herself be escorted to the prison, where she planned on getting Tennessee out of there before anything else happened... and while she was heading to the prison she noticed Gilda taking pictures of the area, no doubt to help them during the escape.
It took Toothpick and his guards, or mostly the guards since Toothpick went back to salvage his festival that Diz had partly ruined, to bring Diz to the prison that she'd be spending a few minutes in, because once she figured out where they were keeping Tennessee she was going to break him out and put a stop to Toothpick's plans. Eventually they reached the cell that she would be spending some time in, where Diz smiled as she found a brown raccoon that was dressed in the same clothing that she was currently dressed in, and he was wearing two of his signature items, the brown bowler hat on his head and the yellow bandana he wore around his neck. For a moment it appeared that Tennessee was sitting near the window and was ignoring everyone at the moment, not that she could blame him since the heist he was known for hadn't happened, but at the same time the guards let her enter the cell and closed the door behind her, where she waited for them to walk away before approaching the Cooper Ancestor.
"Howdy there." Diz said, though at the same time she walked over to part of the wall that was near Tennessee and set the ball on the ground, before leaning against the wall itself as she glanced at the ancestor that she had come to save from his unfair punishment.
"Howdy yourself, you beautiful lady." Tennessee said, to which he tipped his hat up for a moment as he looked over Diz's body, apparently surprised for a moment that someone like her had been committing crimes and had been caught, but then he remembered his own troubles as he focused on her, "Looks like you must have ticked ol' Toothpick off pretty good. I like that. You got a name?"
"Yeah, it's Diz... Diz S. Cooper." Diz replied, and she took great pride in announcing that she was a member of the Cooper Clan, even if she wasn't actually related to them by blood, but as she said that she knew what was going to happen next and prepared herself for what Tennessee was going to do.
"Just because you're beautiful doesn't mean that you can make fun of my family name." Tennessee stated, as that was one thing that he hated about people, making fun of his name, and the interesting thing was that the stranger didn't seem upset over his reaction.
"You know, if this was a completely different situation, I'd gladly claim this was a joke." Diz said, as she could have easily pulled a joke on Tennessee and ruined his day even more than it already was, but she was here for a reason and that meant making sure he trusted her, "But it isn't a joke... and, since you seem to be a raccoon of action, I'll do something that will prove I'm a Cooper: I'm going to bust us out of here. Besides, maybe this will help you realize that I'm who I say I am."
Tennessee watched as the lady, Diz, slipped a hand into her shirt sleeve and withdrew an interesting looking cane, the type that belonged to a member of the Cooper Clan, and waved it through the air for a few moments, to which his annoyance faded and a smile graced his face.
"So, it seems that I may have a relative or two that I wasn't aware of... not really a big surprise there." Tennessee said, as this was an interesting turn of events that he wasn't expecting, and it was a better turn of events than what happened when he tried to rob the back earlier, before Diz hid her cane once more, "Okay, show me what your branch of the family is capable of."
Diz smiled and motioned for Tennessee to move out of the way for a moment, where he gladly moved out of the way as she picked up the ball that she had been chained to, only for her to throw it at one of the walls and broke a hole in the tower that they were in. Any ordinary thief, even one of the Cooper Clan, would jump down and make their way through the prison, but instead of wasting time her magic flared and she switched back to her thief attire as her jailbird attire moved into her storage area, where she intended to keep it until handing it over to Sly. It was in that moment that Diz gave Tennessee a look at the true her, as her body reverted back to it's hyena form, her dragon tail returned, and both of her wings emerged from the slots in her shirt, before she looked back at Tennessee, who was surprised by what he was seeing at the moment. She chuckled for a moment before throwing herself out of the opening and took off, though she circled back as Tennessee raced to the entrance she had created and grabbed onto the surprised Cooper Ancestor, before heading off to the safe house so they could figure out what sort of plan Bentley had come up with.
When she returned to the safe house a few moments later, and Tennessee was dressed in his normal attire after discarding his jail clothing, where the Cooper Ancestor was surprised to find that there were five members of the family standing in front of him, four of them not being raccoons like him and Sly, before discovering that there were two little ones in the future, safe from harm. Once the initial shock over meeting the rest of the gang, and getting over the fact that Diz was a chimera at this point instead of a normal hyena, he took center stage and revealed what happened to him, as he had been planning his infamous bank robbery, only for him to be busted before he even reached the bank. The annoying thing, to Tennessee anyway, was that he was essentially framed for a crime that he hadn't even committed, as the gold that was in the bank was still stolen after he was imprisoned, though he was sure that Toothpick, who had arrested him, was the true culprit. Bentley's research revealed that, in addition to some of the weapons that didn't belong in this time period, Toothpick was two bit gangster from Eastern Europe, in the future, and that he had a love for gold and cowboy related things, so much so that he was behind some of the largest gold robberies in the future, and, just like El Jefe, he had mysteriously disappeared when the authorities closed in on him.
The gang looked at each other for a moment and nodded their heads, as it sounded like their mission was to find out where the gold went and restore Tennessee's reputation as the greatest outlaw in the Old West, and Tennessee was ready to recover his revolver before taking Toothpick out.
Once Tennessee was ready to get underway with their operation to get his cane back, and whatever else Bentley happened to come up with before actually taking out Toothpick, Bentley headed out in a disguise that he had Gilda swipe from one of the nearby stores, so he could blend in with the environment and locals. There were many things that they didn't know about the situation that they were in, despite what Tennessee had told them after Diz rescued him from the prison, and Bentley intended to use his new disguise to figure out what they needed to know, even though the first task they needed was to recover the stolen cane. Fortunately Bentley was able to walk out to part of the town and hid behind some crates, as it would be the perfect hiding spot for him to wait behind as he patiently waited for their foe to come out and reveal what he needed to know, but first he made sure that none of the guards were around the area before pulling up the communication line with the safe house. He waited for a few seconds, so the connection could be made, and when the line was up he saw Sly, his family, and the rest of the gang on the other side of his tablet, though he knew that they were all eager for him to inform them of what they were doing.
"Okay, as you all know our first order of business is getting Tennessee his guns back." Bentley stated, because while it was interesting that this particular Cooper Ancestor had connected his cane and his guns into a single form, something that might be difficult by modern standards, that didn't take away from the fact that they needed to get it back.
"Well, it's just the one gun now." Tennessee informed them, though at the same time that meant that the pair of gun-canes in the Vault had to be the original weapons he had been using and that the actual gun-cane that was the one that was associated with him was the one they were seeking, "I upgraded it, but yeah I need my shooting iron back."
"Agreed. Now, according to all my research, Toothpick closed this old gold mine several months ago, declaring it 'unsafe'." Bentley stated, to which an image appeared on the other screen, allowing the rest of the gang to know what he was talking about and what sort of door the mine had, "In fact, he's converted it to a storage facility for his stolen goods, including Tennessee's gun. We'll need to take measures with this job so as not to arouse suspicion. So by employing a masterful disguise, I'll tail Toothpick to the mine's entrance and mark it with a special homing beacon that Clockwerk and I have developed for this occasion. Murray, you'll follow Gilda and Derpy as they use the beacon to reach the entrance of the mine. Toothpick is sure to have secure the entrance so we'll need all of your... formidable skills to get it open. Then, once we have access, Tennessee can get in and get his gun back."
"Sounds like a plan Bentley." Gilda said, and the rest of the gang nodded their heads before the connection between them faded, which gave them time to get their things together for when the beacon was activated, thus allowing Bentley to keep an eye out for his target.
Fortunately for Bentley he didn't have to wait too long, as not a minute later Toothpick walked out into the open, without a single guard following him, and continued on his walk as he made motions that belonged to someone that belonged from this time period, while at the same time mumbling about how Tennessee managed to get away from the cell he put him in. Since it was clear that their target was distracted Bentley was able to tail him, while at the same time hiding behind the various boxes and crates that were in the area, as the gangster walked through the street of the town, heading right for the area that Bentley had informed the others about. It didn't take Toothpick long to reach the location of the mine, with one of the largest doors that Bentley had ever seen, including a smaller normal sized door that could only be opened by the nearby terminal, and Toothpick entered the code and slipped into his treasure vault, unaware that he had given away it's exact location to his enemies. As Bentley approached the terminal, however, he found out that there happened to be a defense mechanism of some kind, as large scorpions emerged from the nearby tunnels and marched towards his location, though he didn't have anything to worry about as Murray manned the large gun that was nearby, likely set up to deal with the scorpions before the cave was taken over, and started firing at some of the scorpions... and, just like Bentley predicted, both Gilda and Derpy were in the air as well, using their magic to combat some of the targets that Murray didn't focus on.
Tennessee, from watching what was going on in front of him, was able to determine why two of the future Coopers were skilled, because Gilda and Derpy, just like Diz before them, had access to interesting magical powers that he could have only read about in the Thievius Raccoonus, and even he could tell that the low powered wind and lightning blasts they were using were the tip of their full potential.
It wasn't long before Murray, Gilda, and Derpy knocked out the last of the scorpions, allowing Bentley to focus his attention on the terminal that was in front of him for a few minutes, where he hacked away and broke through the defenses that were arrayed against him, though once he accomplished his goal he beckoned to Murray. A few seconds later Murray charged at the large door in front of them and gripped the underside of the gate, where he lifted with all his strength and the others watched as he heaved the metallic door up into the air, opening it enough to give Tennessee and Sly some room to get into Toothpick's vault. Not even a moment later, with the two of them on the other side of the door, Murray closed the door and let the two Coopers do what they did best, and that was stealing whatever they were after, though in Sly's case it was taking back what had been stolen and Tennessee was merely getting his gun-cane back for his future heists. In the off chance that there wasn't another way out of the vault the four of them kept themselves hidden in the immediate area, just in case Toothpick came back out, but they were confident that Sly and Tennessee would be able to get their mission done with ease.
Sly and Tennessee landed on the floor of the vault not a few seconds after the door closed behind them, though at the same time Sly found something interesting, as right in front of the area that they had landed in was an elegant looking case that contained Tennessee's gun-cane.
"Hey! There's my gun!" Tennessee said, to which Sly nodded his head as he held up a hand, stopping his ancestor from opening the case as he looked for any future security features, but when he found none he moved out of the way and let Tennessee smash open the glass case, giving him the chance to snatch his cane from it, "That's right! The Kid is back in business!"
Sly stepped back for a moment as Tennessee demonstrated the power of his gun-cane by rapid firing at the vault door that was in front of them, where the locking mechanism unlocked and let the door swing open, granting them access to the rest of Toothpick's treasure vault. As they walked down the path in front of them the two of them found a laser floor in front of them, though while it was clear that Tennessee had no idea what sort of defense mechanism this was he did find the power source of the lasers and loosed a bullet at it, destroying it and allowing the lasers to power down. From there the two of them continued forward, where they found some decent sized spiders standing in the way and, since it appeared that there were enough explosives around, Tennessee used the t.n.t. barrels to blow up the spiders, by using a bullet to ignite the gunpowder inside each container. What followed next was them reaching another door that required one of Tennessee's personal skills, the Crackshot as he called it, and it allowed him to target multiple targets before firing a number of bullets in rapid succession, meaning a few seconds in reality, and he used his Crackshot to open the vault door that was blocking their path.
With the door opened Sly and Tennessee found some rails on the other side, where Tennessee jumped forward and used his Rail Slide technique to continue to the other side of the rails, and Sly showed his worth as a Cooper Thief by doing the same thing as he followed after his ancestor, who occasionally used his bullets to blow up some of the barrels behind some enemies and clear the path they were following. When they reached the end of the rails Tennessee immediately went to town on the guards that were in front of them, shooting them down and opening the way forward, though at the same time Sly used his cane and knocked around the spiders that apparently weren't what his ancestor was targeting, all while keeping track of what Tennessee was doing. It didn't take them long to find another door that required the Crackshot, and of course another rail rested behind it that the duo used to progress even further into Toothpick's vault, though as that happened Sly knew that their foe must have had a secret passage that only he knew about, as there was no way that Toothpick would be able to do all of these moves on his own. It didn't take them long to fight their way to another vault door, though on the rail track Tennessee had to use his gun-cane to open a smaller door and then one final vault door that allowed them to appear in the outskirts of the town, where the two of them smiled and headed into the town, while calling Bentley and informing him, and the others, that they were out of the treasure vault and that it was time for them to see what else they could do in regards to messing with Toothpick.
While on their way back to the safe house Bentley informed Sly that the two of them needed to tackle one more mission before they returned as well, to which Sly watched as Murray, Gilda, Derpy, and Tennessee headed back to the safe house while he headed to an area near a saloon... and, when he was in position, he used his binocucom and found that Bentley was still wearing his disguise, meaning that this had to be a delicate operation he had planned.
"Okay Bentley, what are we doing here?" Sly asked, as he decided to focus on the task at hand and not bring attention to the fact that his friend was still wearing his disguise at the moment, because he wanted to get this over with so they could finish Toothpick's operations and restore order to this time period.
"Toothpick's office is somewhere in the upper levels of this saloon." Bentley told him, knowing that Sly wanted to get this over with and he agreed with him, as the sooner they dealt with Toothpick the sooner they could figure out how Le Paradox managed to get his hands on the time machine and which ancestor was next on his list, "To find out what he's planning, our best bet is to plant a bug in said office. Needless to say, we must remain undetected. Conveniently, I've discovered that they're looking for a new bartender, so I'll just go on in and control the situation by introducing the patrons to my special homebrewed sarsaparilla."
"Homebrewed sarsaparilla?" Sly inquired, as that was something that he hadn't heard about before and was sure that it must have been something that Bentley and Penelope had been working on, before he shook his head and returned to the matter at hand, "So why do you need me?"
"A good question." Bentley replied, to which he let Sly's binocucom move targets until it was pointing at an open window that just so happened to be connected to the second floor of the saloon, though Sly already had some ideas as to what his objective was going to be, "You'll need to enter the saloon through that window and make your way to the ventilation system, while at the same time I'll be making sure that the goons on the first floor are so sugared up that they'll be seeing double until they crash... hard. Once you launch the RC Car into the vents, and I'm sure that the goons are knocked out, I'll guide the device to Toothpick's office "
"Sounds easy enough. I'll see you inside." Sly said, to which he put his binocucom away and headed for the window that Bentley had pointed out, though once he was in position he noticed his friend wheel up to the front door and head inside, where he did the same and stuck to the shadows so he could see what was going on down below.
When Sly entered the saloon he glanced down at the bar that Bentley was setting up shop in and watched in sheer amazement as his friend started his routine, as when one of the guards stepped up to the bar and demanded a drink Bentley sent one of his sarsaparilla, filled in the mug of this time period, down towards the guard in question. As it turned out there were some guards that actually wanted two mugs of the drink and even the occasional guard that wanted three at the same time, confirming Bentley's earlier comment about making sure that they were all sugared up and that all of them would crash hard. Once his friend was done with the guards, and some of them had crashed as he promised, Sly made his way through the upper area of the saloon and avoided the various obstacles that were in front of him, where he also found a point where he had to utilize the new disguise that Diz had given him, the jailbird attire, to move part of the path into position so he could move forward. It didn't take him long to reach the vent and deploy the RC Car, allowing Bentley, who headed elsewhere to avoid being detected, to steer it towards Toothpick's office, all while avoiding the various hazards that had been installed into the vents, all modern technology... and, just as he claimed, Bentley stopped the RC Car near the vent in Toothpick's office.
It was in that moment that he discovered Toothpick's plan, that the gangster was loading up all the gold that he had taken onto a train that would be taken back to the present day, allowing him to be worth billions in a matter of minutes, and that there was only one thing they needed to do to before they left town... and, as Bentley drove the RC Car back to Sly's position, the gang knew that Toothpick had to be referring to Tennessee's cane, though they also learned that when the gangster got angry he got large, a useful tip to be aware of for their operation.
When Sly and Bentley returned to the safe house, and started to go over the plan that Bentley was thinking of so they could topple Toothpick and restore order to this time period, they discovered that Tennessee had gone out to survey the area and tail their foe a little, just to see if he could find out anything else that might be useful to the gang... however, when he stopped and used his new binocucom, the gang wasn't ready for what the Cooper ancestor had found.
"That's not good." Tennessee said, though as he spoke he pressed the little part of the binocucom that linked it up to the safe house, something that had been explained to him once he had been handed the device, though the event that was unfolding was a grinning Toothpick standing next to two bound children, "It looks like Toothpick found himself some troublemakers... a boy and a girl by the looks of it."
"Sweet jumping jackrabbits! Those aren't any ordinary children!" Bentley replied, though at the same time the air in the safe house shifted, because the rest of the gang had seen what Tennessee was seeing and all of them were angry over who Toothpick was standing near, "Those are Elizabeth and Daniel Cooper... Sly and Carmelita's kids!"
"Wait, you mean they're family?!" Tennessee asked, though as he asked that his own anger rose as well, because he had come to understand that the gang that had come and saved him was his descendant, his family, and his friends coming to fix the problem that someone had created, but finding that the next generation was here, and that they were in danger, angered him.
"Yes, and you're the only one that can get there fast enough before something happens to them." Bentley informed him, as it seemed like Toothpick might be getting ready to put the kids in something that would either explode or roll off a cliff, but right now he wasn't willing to do anything to endanger them, "Sly, Murray, Carmelita, and I will take the van and meet you once you save them. Derpy, Gilda, and Diz will see if they can do anything to assist you in your venture."
Tennessee nodded and got underway immediately, as he didn't want anything to happen to Sly and Carmelita's kids, and he followed Toothpick into the canyon that the tunnel had lead to, where both of the kids were put into a stagecoach that started to move down the path that was in front of the driver. He used the rail nearby and followed the path that the driver was taking, using his Crackshot to take out all of the explosives that lined the path and firing at the guards that were trying to throw explosives at him, because they could easily target the stagecoach and he didn't want that to happen at all, especially when he considered who was in the vehicle. He had to do that a few more times, making sure to keep up with the stagecoach and protect it from harm, all while seeing that both of the kids seemed a little terrified of what was happening at the moment, not that he could blame them since they had been kidnapped from their own time and had been brought here to be used against their parents. Fortunately the stagecoach reached the end of the line and the driver was the first to go flying, though as that happened Tennessee moved in and forced open the door, where he carefully pulled both of the kids out and put them safely on the ground, before the tipping stagecoach fell over the edge and fell into the river beneath them.
"Wh... who are you, mister?" Elizabeth asked, as while she and Daniel were scared of what had happened, after being taken so suddenly, she wanted to be sure that they were safe and that this raccoon wasn't an enemy, despite the fact that he looked familiar.
"I'm Tennessee... Tennessee Kid Cooper." Tennessee replied, though at the same time he offered the kids a smile, as he was sure that the angry look on his face hadn't been helping the two of them, before he thought of something, "Come on, let's get you two back to your parents."
"That's not going to be possible for a while," Derpy said, to which she landed nearby and sighed, as it appeared that they had been tricked by their enemy and, for the first time in a long time, they had actually fallen for it without seeing it coming, "This was a trap... Toothpick's captured Sly and the others. Diz and Gilda have an idea how we're going to get them, and the van, back, and then we'll take care of Toothpick and figure out why you two are here."
Elizabeth and Daniel smiled when they saw their aunts and uncle drop down into the area and carry them, and their ancestor, back to the safe house, as it appeared that the three of them were enough to calm them down for now, but they wouldn't be alright until Sly, Carmelita, and the others were rescued... and then they would take great pleasure in tearing Toothpick's plans apart before heading after the next henchman that Le Paradox had hired for his war on the past, and the Coopers that he was targeting.
The first thing that Derpy, Gilda, Diz, and Tennessee did was get Elizabeth and Daniel back to the safe house, where they found that Clockwerk was keeping himself busy by preparing a plan that would do Bentley proud, was contact the future and see how the kids had been kidnapped by Le Paradox. From what the two of them knew they had been playing outside, with Carmelita's father watching over them, and when he went inside a stranger wearing a black suit, a white undershirt, and a red tie while having a clean shaven head, snatched them before their grandparents could call them inside for lunch. When the connection to the future was established, however, they found that neither Margret or Edward were present and found Secretary Sen standing on the other side with the Thievius Raccoonus nearby, where he asked them if they knew what happened to the Foxes and the kids. Derpy assured him that the kids were safe, or as safe as they could be since they were in the Old West with the rest of them, before asking what happened to Carmelita's parents, where they discovered that Le Paradox hadn't just taken the kids, but he had also arranged for the grandparents to be take as well. It was one thing to use a time machine to go back in time to destroy the Cooper Clan, as it could cause ripples and affect the future more than they might realize, but targeting innocent children and involving them in this war between their families was going a step too far... and that wasn't even taking into consideration Carmelita's parents, who weren't even involved in this madness, meaning that they needed to keep their eyes open for them as well.
By the time they were done talking to Secretary Sen, who was upset that Le Paradox was messing with time and tasked the gang with defeating the rest of the skunks' forces, Clockwerk turned towards them and revealed that they were going to assault the prison once more, only this time they were going to follow the river and attack them from a different direction. In fact during his own recon of the area, posing as the version of himself from this time period, he had found a large wooden boat that was designed to travel on the very river that he was talking about and that it could hold some of them, especially since he wasn't planning on staying back this time around. Of course that presented a problem to Gilda and Derpy, because he was supposed to be acting like he wasn't an ally of the Cooper's to avoid detection, but Clockwerk surprised them by stating that he was going to make it seem like they were only reluctant allies and that this was a one time deal that he made with Tennessee, causing the girls to nod their heads before they left Diz in the safe house, as he had drawn the short stick and was going to watch the kids until the gang was restored.
It wasn't long before they reached the area that the boat was in and Tennessee took up steering it towards their destination, while at the same time Clockwerk positioned himself at the front so he could smash through the obstacles that were in their way while Gilda used the wind to throw back any explosives that might be thrown at them... allowing Derpy to stand near Tennessee while he did his job and got them underway to where the prison was located.
"Pardon me for asking, but you called that... metallic... owl Clockwerk, right?" Tennessee asked, though at the same time they neared the first wooden gate that was meant to block their path and the ancient owl screeched as he dove into the space in front of them, using the weight of his true form to smash through it, before using a small rocket to blow up some explosive containers nearby.
"Yeah, we did." Derpy replied, though even as she answered the question she knew what was coming, as it was only a matter of time until one of the ancestors recognized Clockwerk for what he was, and she had the feeling that the talk of the 'other version' clued him into what was going on, "Why?"
"You can't possibly mean Clockwerk, the ancient foe that's been hunting the Cooper Clan for who knows how long." Tennessee said, as he knew the stories and all of them pointed to the ancient owl being a menace to the entirety of his family line, supposedly going all the way back to the time of Slytunkhamen and his sons, "The ancient owl that's rumored to run on nothing but sheer hatred for our clan and would stop at nothing to destroy each and every one of us in the process, even though our luck lets us best whatever plans he's coming up with. You can't possibly mean he's THAT Clockwerk... can you?"
"Well, it's a long story, but we managed to get him to turn over a new leaf," Derpy answered, to which she decided to inform Tennessee of what had happened between them and the ancient owl, while at the same time making sure that the ancestor swore that he wouldn't write any of this down in the Thievius Raccoonus once she was done explaining the situation and the gang fixed his problem with Toothpick.
Suffice it to say that Tennessee was impressed by the brief tale that Derpy wove, as she highlighted what the ancestor needed to know about so he could understand how they managed to get Clockwerk on their side, but at the same time she made sure to keep the tale short so he could focus on getting them down the river. Instead of stopping for the dock switches, which controlled the larger gates they needed to pass through, Gilda knocked the guards out of the way with her wind powers and flipped the switch that opened the gate, allowing the boat to sail towards their destination without any trouble, even if Clockwerk had taken to the sky and was shooting at the guards that Toothpick had employed. Despite Derpy's claims there was one thing that the new chip didn't do, and that was prevent him from feeling negative emotions like anger and hate, as it was clear that he was angry with Toothpick, and Le Paradox, and that he was going to tear his way to where Sly and the others were waiting, just to blow off some steam and prevent a potential regress to who he had been before the chip had been changed... after all, just because they changed his Hate Chip didn't mean that he was no longer burdened by all the hatred he had carried, and doing this allowed him to prevent changing back to the owl he had been before they bested him.
Eventually they made it to the stop that would allow them to enter the prison, where it was clear that Toothpick had been expecting them to show up since he had an ambush at the ready once they arrived where Sly and the others were hanging at the moment... but the ambush couldn't stand against the sheer terror that was Clockwerk, who defeated the guards that came at them as Tennessee released the gang.
"Elizabeth and Daniel, where are they?!" Carmelita asked, though at the same time it was clear that she was angry at what had happened, not just because she and the others had been captured, but mostly because her children had been kidnapped and brought to this time period, something that they had been trying to avoid by leaving them in the future.
"Back at the safe house with Diz." Derpy replied, though as she said that Clockwerk flew into the air and started blasting the rest of the prison, taking out the rest of his anger on the remaining guards before he bothered to rejoin them at the same house, "Come on, let's get back there and reunite you two with them... and then we can talk about what we're going to do to stop Toothpick, and get the van back."
"Not to mention that the kids weren't the only ones taken." Gilda added, causing both Sly and Carmelita to turn towards her for a moment, though the look in Carmelita's eyes told her that she knew what she was going to say, "I'm sorry, but Le Paradox also kidnapped your parents as well... and we have no idea where he's taken them, or what time period he's taken them to."
Carmelita was furious, and no one in the gang blamed her for being as angry as she was, but she did calm down a little when she remembered that their kids needed them and soon she and Sly were heading back to the safe house so they could comfort Elizabeth and Daniel.
The kids were overjoyed to be reunited with their parents, just like Sly and Carmelita were overjoyed to find that their kids weren't harmed, even though they might have some bad memories of this entire incident, but for the most part it appeared that all four of them were happy to be brought back together, even though it didn't do anything about the worry that Carmelita was feeling for her parents. Bentley, thanks to the bug in Toothpick's office, discovered that their foe was planning on moving the stolen gold back to the future with a special train he had constructed, which was now being turbo-charged by the gang's van, and there was no chance of them heading back into the vault to get it back, meaning that they had to use a different tactic this time around. He told them that there were three parts of the track that they needed to divert if they wanted a chance at taking the vane back, so that meant that they needed to take the three keys from the trusted henchmen that were carrying them at all times, and, as luck would have it, Toothpick appeared to be holding his festival and the guards would be competing, meaning that they could beat them and take the keys... and then they would tackle the train, while it was moving, beat Toothpick at his own game, and then get the van back so they could tackle the next era that Le Paradox was targeting.
As it turned out Bentley had signed up Murray for a fight with the first key-holder, had done the same with Sly for a race against the second guard, and Carmelita would be participating in a gun contest with the third one, which was when he revealed that he had been making a shock pistol that was slightly smaller than her old one that she could use whenever she wanted, and she smiled as she accepted the device.
Diz followed Murray to where the brawl was taking place and watched as he entered the ring and started his fight with the dogs that were between him and the guard that he needed to take out, where he watched as Murray punched and knocked out every challenger that came at him, before defeating twenty of them, to the amazement of the announcer that was giving commentary during the fight. Once the pack of dogs had been taken out Wildman, as that was the guard's name, climbed into the ring and Murray started the battle between him and his target, finding that he had found a decent challenger at last, and the crowd cheered as the two of them exchanged blows with each other for the next few minutes, before Murray dropped Wildman to the floor and claimed his victory, and the key he came for. As Murray was doing that Sly, dressed in the jailbird attire since it was the only way he was going to be able to keep up with the second guard, started the race that he had been signed up in and raced through the checkpoints that were in front of him, while at the same time keeping his eyes on the jackrabbit that he was following. Derpy and Gilda, who were watching from the skies, noticed that there were t.n.t. barrels all over the course and a number of spotlights, meaning that it was rigged in favor of the champion, but at the same time they smiled as Sly maneuvered his way through the course, without touching the obstacles, and eventually outdid the guard he was racing, earning the key by the time the race was over.
Carmelita, on the other hand, ended up making a deal with the final guard, that if she bested his score she'd get the trophy, and the key that it apparently contained, and if she lost she owed him a kiss, something that immediately irritated her and made her want to shoot him already, but instead of doing that she turned her new shock pistol on the targets and started firing at them... where she showed the guard that she was just as good as he was and then shattered the score, to which she claimed her prize and walked out with the key in hand, and a smile on her face.
With the keys assembled, and the gang ready to put a stop to Toothpick's plans at long last, Bentley explained that they would be working together to take care of the various obstacles on the train, so they could get the van and the gold that Tennessee was going to steal back, before taking out Toothpick. Murray and Diz were in charge of taking care of the electrical barriers that were surrounding the van, as well as any guards in the area, before launching the van so they could catch up to where Bentley, Derpy, and Gilda would be stationed on the train, giving them time to take out their own guards and hack into the computers to blow the train's whistles, something that would annoy Toothpick. Despite his desire to punish Toothpick, and take the train out, Clockwerk agreed to stay on the sidelines and watch over Elizabeth and Daniel this time around, giving him time to cool off while Sly, Carmelita, and Tennessee dealt with their true target. Once Toothpick was knocked out, and the train was stopped, Bentley planned on taking the criminal back to the future so he could face a real punishment for the crimes he committed before fleeing to the past, and then they'd focus on which ancestor was next on Le Paradox's list.
When the time came to move the gang assembled on the bridge that was overlooking the rails that the train would be passing under and jumped out in the pairs that Bentley had stated, with Sly, Carmelita, and Tennessee going first, followed by himself, Gilda, and Derpy, and let Diz and Murray jump down onto the rear section of the train. As it turned out the guards that Diz and Murray ended up fighting were Le Paradox's rat guards, so while Diz used his powers to knock them around Murray lifted some of the explosive barrels and used them on the electric barriers that were keeping the van tied down to the area that it was in, which also protected the van from the explosions that erupted when the barrels hit their target. Once the deed was done Murray climbed into the driver seat and backed the van onto the tracks behind the train, before speeding up as he caught up with the side of the train and started to move towards the area that Bentley and the girls were in, allowing Diz to fly to the side door and open it while Clockwerk carefully flew in, thus allowing Diz to help Elizabeth and Daniel into the magically enlarged interior of the van before the owl shrunk down to join them, before the door was closed and Murray stepped on the gas once more.
While that was going on Bentley followed after Derpy and Gilda as they used their magic and tore their way through the obstacles that were in front of them, quite literally at times since Gilda's power over the wind was enough to tear apart any wooden walls or obstacles in their way and Derpy exploded each and ever explosive barrel that were along the path they were following. If it wasn't for the fact that he had seen these two battle Clockwerk, twice he mentally added, and the destruction they brought when they were annoyed or really focused, Bentley would have been worried or even frightened, but right now he was grateful to have them on their side, as it made getting to the computer he needed to access all that much easier. Thanks to them he was able to reach the terminal and start his hacking session, where they stood at the ready as he tore his way through the code that was waiting for him, and once control over the whistles were theirs, and Sly's group knew about it, the three of them headed over to the side of the train and beckoned to Murray, who opened the left side door of the van and let them all jump in, before closing it and heading to the final point where he'd be able to get the others once they dealt with Toothpick.
Tennessee was up next, as he made his way through the obstacles that were between him and the gold that had been inside the bank, which Toothpick had stolen, and it wasn't long before the door was blown open, allowing Bentley to use a new device that he had installed into the van, and never got to test until now, that launched a plunger-headed grapple hook and hauled the cart of gold out to where he and the others were, which was a good thing their van was modified by Diz to have all this extra space, otherwise they'd be in trouble. Once the first part of the gold had been recovered he headed into the second car and did the same thing, allowing Bentley to grab the second part of the treasure and promise that they'd get the rest once the train had been stopped, though when Tennessee confronted Toothpick two of Le Paradox's goons jumped him from behind and knocked him to the floor, snatching the cane for their employer as the fake sheriff smiled and returned to his business. In the following moments Sly and Carmelita, who had been running over the tops of the two cars that Tennessee had been running through, dropped down for a moment to make sure the ancestor was alright, before glaring at Toothpick as they jumped up to where he was standing and entered the area that they would be fighting him in.
Toothpick stared at them for a moment as they stood on the box that was on the flat floor that was in front of him, as there wasn't much else to stand on, and seemed annoyed with them, so much so that they could tell that he was thinking about shooting them and getting the matter over with.
"Le Paradox was right about you two... you're a pain in my sides." Toothpick said, his tone indicating that his boss actually knew more about them than they realized and that it was only a matter of time until his next hand was played against them, something that Bentley and Clockwerk were going to have to stop in due time.
"Where are my parents, Toothpick?!" Carmelita demanded, as she was through playing games with the person that had dared to endanger both of her children, just because his boss ordered him to, and wanted to know where they were hiding her parents so she could rescue them as well.
"Hey, I was tasked with handing your kids. I don't know which of the three remaining idiots were stuck watching over your parents... and I feel sorry for whoever they ended up with." Toothpick replied, though at the same time he threw a grenade into the air and it landed on the floor in front of them, where Sly recognized it and slipped into his jailbird attire, before pulling Carmelita onto his back as a laser floor appeared around them.
Sly ran over the grenade, which actually turned out to be the power source for the laser floor, and proceeded to use the metal ball that came with the jailbird attire on the steam boilers, allowing them to power up the whistles that were right behind Toothpick, which Carmelita seemed to think was a design flaw since he apparently hated the noise. Once all three steam boilers were operational the whistles blew and Toothpick fell to their level, to which Sly focused on using the ball to avoid the mini twisters and then slammed the ball into their foe, though while that happened Carmelita used her new shock pistol to shock Toothpick, mostly to deal some damage and distract him from what Sly was doing. The moment Toothpick's attack was over he fell to the floor, allowing Sly to use the metal ball to whack their foe into the grill of the furnace behind him and then the two of them used their canes to strike him down before he pulled himself off the grill and returned to where he had been when the battle started. What they discovered from that point forward was that the battle progressed in the same manner with very little change, as the second and third stages of the battle went the same way as the first one, and Toothpick continued to suffer whenever he returned to his smaller state, until eventually he was launched from the smoke pipe in the front of the train and Tennessee smiled as Toothpick landed near him... to which he removed them from the train by getting off on their stop, allowing Sly and Carmelita to move towards the front of the train as Murray caught up with them.
In that moment they discovered that part of the bridge was out, which none of them had known about, and instead of wasting time the two of them dropped down to the level near the van and then jumped over to the open door that Bentley had opened... and that was when they discovered that Toothpick had tampered with the van's breaks, to induce it's turbo-charged state, and Bentley slipped Murray's necklace into the time machine to avoid certain death. Fortunately the van slipped into the time stream, instead of falling into the ravine that they started to fall into when they reached the end of the line, but at the same time they had no idea where they were going and both Sly and Carmelita held their kids close to them as they waited to see what time period they arrived in, once they reached the other side of the time stream.
When the van finally came to a stop, as in a crash landing in some snow, the gang carefully climbed out of the van and took a few moments to survey the area that they had found themselves in, while at the same time they made sure to keep both Elizabeth and Daniel safe, especially since it was cold out. Fortunately Diz, once more proving that his skills with his chaos magic was a great benefit to them, manipulated some of the various pieces of clothing that were in the van, ones that they wouldn't be needing at all, and created some winter type clothing for the kids, giving them some decent protection from the cold air. Another bit of good news for them was that there happened to be an abandoned looking hut of sorts at the edge of a village, or what would have passed as a prehistoric village, and they were sure that the structure was abandoned because it looked like it hadn't seen some use for the last couple of days, meaning the owner was either dead or lost in the wilderness surrounding the area they had landed in. Since they didn't have time to go out and search for a better place to stay and hide, as well as keep warm, the gang determined that this was the best spot for them to stay in and moved in before they were seeing... as well as finding a good place to hide the van, since this was a time period that didn't have metallic objects like this, which also meant that Clockwerk had to fly around in his miniature form to avoid detection.
What the kids found amusing was when a pterodactyl flew over their new safe house, mostly because Bentley pulled out his Dinosaur Repellent, a powerful cannon that seemed to be designed to exterminate any threats if they landed in this time period by some odd chance, before Sly stopped him since the creature was ignoring them... and, with the device put away, he got Bentley started on trying to figure out where in the world they were and what time period they were in, as well as seeing if he could fix the time machine and communicator so they could see which ancestor was under attack next.
Once they were all situated, as best as they could possibly be since it was thanks to Diz shifting some things around with his chaos magic that they weren't freezing to death, Sly headed outside as Clockwerk took to the air, as both he and Carmelita agreed that one of them should stick with the kids for now. As he walked outside he noticed that there was a crude sign with the name "Gunga' carved into it, a large penguin statue that appeared to rest in the middle of the ancient village, and one structure that definitely looked out of place, as it seemed to be an ice palace with a crown sculpted into the material it was all carved out of. Sly decided that there had to be someone here that didn't belong here, merely because of the fact that the creatures of this time period couldn't have known what a crown looked like, much less one that looked like a modern one that he and the gang could have stolen at some point in time, so he focused on climbing up to the top of the penguin statue that was nearby, even though that meant he had to climb up a pole and then walk across some vines to reach his target.
"Okay Bentley, I'm in position to begin my reconnaissance of the area," Sly said, speaking into his binocucom as he looked out over the area that they had landed in, which definitely looked like a cross between a valley and a village that had been set up nearby, before focusing on the matter at hand, "How are things with the time machine?"
"To be honest, it doesn't look good." Bentley replied, as he and Clockwerk had gone over what had happened to the time machine and he knew what was missing from it, since he had built it in the first place, "Looks like a couple of pieces of the time drive broke off of that crash landing. I need you to track down the missing components A.S.A.P. Fortunately, the advanced trajectoral management processor is still functional, so I was able to calculate their most likely positions. Unfortunately, they seem to have landed in some dangerous terrain. The Temporal Sprocket appears to have fallen close to some pterodactyl nests and I'm afraid one of these prehistoric penguins... might've gotten it's flippers on the Gravity Encabulator. Oh, they may look cute, but those little devils are nasty. This isn't going to be a simple pickup, Sly. Get some photos of their precise locations and I'll analyze them to formulate a plan. But watch your back, because, as I'm sure you've noticed at this point, we're not the first unexpected guests to arrive in this time period."
"Yeah, I agree with you on that." Sly stated, where his binocucom glanced over at the structure he had been staring at, the one with the crown, and he was happy to see that Bentley agreed with him, "It looks like someone installed some kind of conveyor belt system into that structure. That's definitely not anything these guys are able to make. I'll be sure to grab some pictures of the machinery while I'm at it, and maybe a picture of whoever Le Paradox sent to this time period."
Finding the Temporal Sprocket wasn't too hard, as a pterodactyl was currently flying around with it in it's talons, like it was something it was going to feed it's babies, but since it didn't appear that the ancient bird was going to land anytime soon Sly snagged a picture of it and headed out to find the next part that Bentley had asked him to locate. It then took him a few minutes to get to a good position where he could snap a picture of the prehistoric penguins that had gotten hold of the Gravity Encabulator, even though he had no idea what these items did for the time machine, before heading out towards the location of the conveyor belt. When he walked through part of the village, however, he found that he and Bentley were right in their thinking, as it appeared that there were some crates and barrels with Le Paradox's logo on them, meaning that there was someone here that definitely didn't belong in this time period, though whether there was a Cooper ancestor at this point in time they had no idea, since there weren't any records before Slytunkhamen created the Thievius Raccoonus. As he reached the perfect area to take a picture of the conveyor belt, however, he found an ice statue of some bear in clothing that definitely didn't belong in this time period, but he snapped a picture of the item he came for and one of the statue, just to be on the safe side.
As he grabbed those pictures, and prepared to leave the area, Bentley informed him that some activity was happening near his position and that he should check it out, to which he headed to the designated area and found a bear, the same one from the ice statue, standing next to a stone pillar, one that he was currently paining on. Sly waited for a few seconds, so the bear was looking back in the direction that he was standing in, all so he could grab a picture of the bear's face for later, as he was sure that Carmelita might remember him or they could ask Secretary Sen when the communicator was finally restored.
"Okay, there's no way that this guy belongs in this time period," Sly commented, looking at the bear's purple tracksuit, brown colored boots, a golden chain, a scepter in his right hand that looked like it could be a brush as well, and a medieval crown that definitely was out of place, "not with everything that he's wearing at the moment."
"I agree, he's definitely out of place." Bentley said, though at the same time he seemed to have picked up on something interesting, as he pointed Sly's binocucom towards a hole in the wall, one that the bear didn't seem to know about at all, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Yeah... let's see who this guy is and what he's really doing here." Sly replied, as the crates and barrels he found earlier meant that Le Paradox believed that there was a Cooper Ancestor living at this point in time, to which he quickly put his binocucom away and headed for the hole in the wall.
Once he was on the other side of the wall Sly had to carefully move over the points that were in front of him, as the water looked like it was actually tar and that meant bad things for him if he fell into the mass below him, but he kept his mind focused on what he was doing as he made his way over the obstacles. When he snuck through one part of the area he heard two guards, who were apparently more intelligent than he and the others believed, talk about Le Paradox, where their current boss turned one of the other guards, a guy by the name of Joe that had messed up, into a fur coat for the skunk and that the two guards knew he was bad news. The moment he got out of the area he had to sneak through Sly took to the upper level by jumping up onto a pole and walking above the guards that were patrolling the area, before finding a log near a gate that he could climb to get around the obstacle that didn't look like he could easily open it from his side, especially since this was foreign territory to them at the moment. The path he chose allowed him to climb on top of the gate and got a good look at the area in front of him, which revealed that the center of the bear's palace seemed to have been built around some lava that was still burning, though not hot enough to melt through everything that was around here by the looks of it.
What really caught his attention was the large, and definitely overweight and out-of-shape, brown furred with black strips and grey fur covering his torso and parts of his lower jaw, creature that resembled a prehistoric raccoon, and right now he was being kept down by a modern net... and, when Sly looked closely, he found that the creature was holding onto a large wooden stick that had a jagged bone hook, which resembled a Cooper cane.
"Bentley, are you guys seeing this?" Sly asked, because if he was right he might have just found the first member of the Cooper Clan, the one that all of them descended from in some form or another, and it looked like that they might be too late to save his cane from being taken.
"Holy missing links!" Bentley replied, confirming Sly's thoughts on the matter, that they were staring at what Sly had been thinking they were staring at, but he remained silent as he wanted for Bentley to continue talking, "There's a distinct possibility that he is one of your ancestors, possibly the very first one, which means that we need to get him out of here before that bear does something to him... maybe you can use the sabertooth tiger skin to assist you in freeing him."
Sly really had no idea how Bentley figured out that the skin was in the area that he was in, but at the same time he guessed that he really didn't want to know, so he put his binocucom away and used the nearby hooks to cross over the heads of the two sabertooth tiger guards that were below him. After that he used his paraglider to get over to the next ledge, by using an air vent that had to be generated from the lava, allowing him to climb up some ice and use the vines to slide into the area above the bear, who was currently painting a rather ugly picture of what was happening to the Cooper Ancestor at the moment. Sly spotted the key that was in the bear's pocket, which likely went to the door nearby, and carefully dropped down behind his target, where he slipped the coins out of the bear's pocket before swiping the key and climbed up the ice that was near him to get out of sight. Not even a few seconds later the bear turned around and walked over to the edge of the ledge that he was waiting on, allowing him to stare down at the scene that was in front of him, but that let Sly drop down into the area that the bear had been in and he slipped behind the painting, where he headed to the door that was in front of him and opened it... where he entered what appeared to be a bedroom of sorts that had a heart shaped bed, which the sabertooth tiger skin had been resting on.
Instead of worrying about the bear's tastes, since he was sure that they were horrible, Sly snatched the skin that was in front of him and smiled as he slipped on his newest costume, which seemed to cover his back quite well, the claws rested over his hands, and the head covered his own, making it look like he was a walking sabertooth tiger and that he had the skill to drop to the floor and play dead.
In front of him rested a lava flow and on the other side rested a post, where he found that if he assumed the playing dead position and focused he could use whatever lingering feral power was in the skin to attack like an actual sabertooth tiger, as in he could leap right over the lava flow and attacking the bird shaped post on the other side. It was an interesting tactic, one that he used to dispatch the two dodo guards that were blocking his path and then let he get near the wooden cage that was suspended in the air, even though he had to switch out of the costume to climb to the top of the cage when he neared it. As he drew closer to where the Cooper Ancestor was resting, however, he heard one of the guards take his cane and toss it up to 'the Grizz', who proceeded to hand it over to one of Le Paradox's men and walked away so the two of them could chat about something. That provided the perfect opportunity for Sly to use his new costume to leap through the air and take out the five guards that were manning the devices that were keeping the large Cooper tied down, which allowed the prehistoric raccoon to break free of his bindings and knock the guards into the lava around him, impressing Sly a little as he dropped down to greet him.
What Sly found out was that despite the fact that the prehistoric Cooper was speaking a dialect that none of them actually understood, Diz had surprised them once more, as his chaos magic apparently rubbed off on all of them, just in a very small amount that allowed them to understand 'Bob', and that explained how they were all able to understand both Rioichi and Tennessee earlier... before the two of them hightailed it out of Grizz's lair and made their way back to the safe house, so they could try and figure out what was going on in this ancient time period.
When the two of them got back to the safe house Bentley gave them all the rundown on Grizz, who had made his fame in the art world despite being a common thug, totally different from the last two foes they had taken on, and that he had been plucked from the streets by a prominent pop artist. For some time his primitive art seemed to do the trick and he lived the good life, but, like most stories went, his fame was short-lived and he soon fell back into his criminal roots when people realized his 'art' was bad, making him resentful to all of them in the process, and he got back at them by becoming Interpol's most wanted art thief. Bob, despite having fun staring at all of Bentley's gadgets, told them about how he had been forced out of his role as the main food provider for the tribe, something he did by stealing pterodactyl eggs with his 'tool', the cane that had been taken, and it was all because Grizz showed up and used his modern technology, to some degree, to harvest the eggs and prevented Bob from doing what he did best, allowing for his current depression that had allowed Grizz to capture him and steal his cane.
By the time they were all caught up on the situation they had found themselves in they knew that there was one thing they needed to do before they did anything else, and that was get Bob back in shape so he could help them recover the missing van pieces that they needed, and then they could help him take out Grizz... even though they still had no idea why the bear was running this operation, short of it helping take Bob out, and they had the feeling that they might uncover the truth in due time.
The first thing that Bentley did, after the gang heard what Grizz was up to and what happened to the first Cooper Cane ever to be constructed, was have Murray head out to an area of the village that they were in and set up some training exercises that would help Bob get back in shape, or at least to the point where he'd be able to climb and assist them in recovering the missing components they needed for the time machine. Murray promptly declared that he 'knew what it took to be a champion' and that he was going to put Bob through the training of his life so they could get him back in shape, before heading out to the area that he needed to set up the training course in, allowing the others to relax as best they could and keep tabs on what Grizz was up to. Elizabeth and Daniel seemed to be having fun, despite the fact that they could really only play in the snow while there weren't any guards around, but at the same time they still knew that the situation was dangerous and came back to their safe house if they started to stray too far from Carmelita's sight, though the first time that happened she went out and pulled them back herself. For the most part there wasn't much the gang could do, not until Murray was finished setting up his course and Bob was whipped back into shape, so they made sure to keep themselves as active as possible, and that meant trying to figure out what sort of operation Le Paradox had Grizz running at the moment, because that was something they still didn't truly understand... even though Derpy, Gilda, and Diz thought it was just a way to get Bob in a position so he could be captured.
While all this was going on Sly noticed that Clockwerk spent most of his time outside the safe house, thanks to the fact that his metallic body seemed to have an impressive resistance to the cold air that was around them, though he knew that the owl was looking for something, and it was only a matter of time until they found out what that something was... and in due time Murray called Bob out to the training area, where the prehistoric raccoon grabbed a large bone, to use as a club for now, and headed off to the area that Murray was in.
"Alright, listen up... Playtime is over!" Murray declared, as he was standing on a pillar and was staring down at the entrance that Bob walked through, where he noticed that the Cooper Ancestor was looking at what he had assembled for him, before he was the focus of Bob's attention, "Your job is to get back in shape, and my job is to make sure that you do just that! To do that, The Murray is taking your training to the next level! Look around the area, we'll be using your standard training exercises: Slippery Slope, Penguin Popper, Sumo Slap, Duck and Cover, Super Sling, and Whack-a-Chump."
Bob looked at the six signs that Murray must have created before his arrival, along with naming each and every one of them, before he turned back towards his new friend and tilted his head in confusion, to which he spoke in his native tongue for a few moments, in the sense that he was asking a question.
"Okay, maybe they aren't your standard exercises, but they're Murray approved." Murray replied, as he had known, from the moment he got to this area, that Bob had no actual standard training exercises in this area, meaning that he usually did whatever he wanted to stay in shape, hence the creation of six special challenges that would get the job done in no time, "So, if you're ready, let's get started!"
The first challenge that Bob went for was Slippery Slope, where Murray explained that, due to some advanced training techniques, he had the balance of a mountain goat, a secret that he was going to pass onto Bob, though it was really him standing in the middle of a floating block of ice, holding a log above his head with a pterodactyl egg in the center of it, and the only requirement was that the egg stayed in one piece. At first Bob assumed that the challenge was going to be easy, until Murray revealed that he had some penguins that were willing to help with their training, feral ones that seemed to know better, and that they would be jumping onto the ice to disturb the balance, forcing Bob to adapt so he could keep the egg in one piece. Bob, who had no natural balance to begin with, found that the challenge was hard from the very beginning, but despite that fact he guessed that this would help his regain his former abilities and went along with it, even though he had the urge to drop the log and the egg, pick up his club, and smash several of the penguins while he stayed in a single spot, all because he found the little critters to be absolutely annoying. He wasn't sure how long he had to remain in this state, balancing an egg that he somehow managed to get to stay on the log without it falling off and hitting the ice that he was standing on, but eventually Murray called him off the ice and handed him a item... something that he called a golden metal, which he created for this event and said that it showed that he had good practice with the technique that he had put him through.
From there he moved to Penguin Popper, which was basically just Bob standing under the ledge that some penguins would be walking on, hiding him from their sight while blocking his sight of them, and that this was a test of his reaction time, as he was supposed to hit an opponent when they were right in front of him. This one Bob liked, as it allowed him to take out some of his frustrations on the penguins that had tormented him during the first challenge, to which he gladly readied his club and whacked the penguins as they jumped off the space above them, sending them flying into the distance, even though he knew that they'd come back for another round. Murray made a comment about how tough the penguins were, as Bob's weakest hits still packed enough force to send them flying and yet they returned to them without any marks that they had been hit in the first place, which just confirmed that everything was tougher back in this time period, something that Bentley had noticed and was happy to have confirmation on. Despite his eagerness to hit the penguins, however, Bob did miss two of them on accident, which Murray assured him was okay, and one of them even hit one of the small pterodactyls that were flying through the area, something that they ignored in favor of continuing their training... and, after hitting a number of penguins, how many Bob had no idea since he couldn't count, Murray declared that he was victorious and handed him a second prize, which he added to the pile and moved to the third challenge.
When he arrived at Super Sling, as that was the challenge that was close to Penguin Popper, Murray explained that he needed to develop his accuracy, which was something else that Bob had no idea what Murray was talking about, but he listened as the hippo explained what he was talking about. According to Murray, he could hit the 'bullseye' while standing on his head, but Bob, on the other hand, just had to strap some penguins down into a strange looking device, a 'sling' as Murray called it, and launch the penguin at the stone targets that the pterodactyls were carrying, once more making Bob wonder how Murray had convinced the savage animals to listen to him. Fortunately Bob smiled when he stared at the penguins that were near the sling and loaded one into position, as he was having fun getting payback on these critters, for both the training he was enduring right now and his own problems from before Grizz showed up, and launched the first one into the target when a pterodactyl came close to where he was standing, shattering the stone with the penguin's hard head and causing him to load another one immediately. While he really had no idea what this was supposed to do for him, considering that there were things that Murray said and he didn't understand the words he was speaking, Bob did have fun messing with the penguins and knew that from this day forward they might fear him more than they did in the past, meaning that he'd have a better future once Grizz was taken care of... and despite his lack of concentration near the end, as he missed a few targets in the process, Murray eventually told him to stop and rewarded him with the third prize.
The fourth challenge, Whack-a-Chump, was designed to teach Bob precision, another word he didn't understand at all, but Murray explained that he needed to know when to attack and when to back off, while also describing it as when to grab or back off from a food item. For Bob, however, the challenge was to use his club and smash the penguins that popped out of the holes in the turtle shaped stone that was nearby, while at the same time avoiding the 'fake' birds that would end up costing him points, though that only served to confuse Bob as the challenge started. In his confusion he swung his club and hit some real birds upside their heads, while at the same time shattering some stone birds that didn't move at all, so much so that he actually ended up failing the challenge in 'record time', only for him to exclaim and speak in his tongue about not knowing what a 'fake' bird looked like. Murray was willing to lend an ear and showed him what he meant by 'fake', giving Bob the change to see that the birds he wasn't supposed to hit were definitely made out of stone and that he should be hitting them at all, least the numerous collisions snap his club in half, before he returned to the challenge and swung his club at the real birds. The second time around it was much better for him, as he was able to figure out which targets he was supposed to be hitting and which ones that he needed to ignore, causing Murray to smile as he continued to smack the penguins that were the targets, and in time he was happy to reward Bob with the next prize, encouraging him to do that well in his next challenge.
Sumo Slap, the fifth challenge, was interesting to Bob, as he had no idea that there were penguins of his size, ones that could actually understand him and Murray, and one of them stood in front of him, to do battle in the art of pushing each other towards the side of the ring that they came from, where Murray claimed that he needed to find his inner strength and push his foe back. Bob had to admit that his desire to punish the penguins really didn't help him against his newest foe, mostly because of his sheer size and the fact that their strength was just about equal, but that didn't stop him from trying his hardest to push the penguin backwards like Murray wanted. For the first few attempts Bob found that the penguin had more practice than he did, as his foe was able to push him backwards with his force and engaged in a series of slaps with Bob, but they all ended in him being pushed out of the ring and forced him onto his back, though the more interesting part about this challenge was the fact that the penguin offered him a flipper and pulled him back onto his feet, so they two of them could go at it again, bringing a smile back to Bob's face. It took some time and effort, as well as a decent amount of concentration, but eventually Bob started to find his pacing and managed to turn the tables on his foe at one point, who was both shocked and happy at the same time... and that time around, when he was awarded the metal for winning the challenge, Bob slipped it over the head of the penguin and they both smiled.
Murray, who had been watching the two the entire time they had been sparring, couldn't help but smile as well, as it appeared that Bob might have made a friend, or at least a sparring partner to keep himself in shape, in the penguin, and that was good news for Bob when Grizz had been taken care of.
The final challenge was duck and cover, where Murray would be using his own strength to hurl penguins at Bob while he stood in the same position, though what Bob needed to do was to watch where the penguins were coming from and move his body accordingly. That meant that if they came towards his head he needed to drop to the ground, if they were coming towards his left arm he needed to pull to the right, if one came at his right arm he needed to pull to the left, and, as a real challenge, if one was thrown at his feet he needed to jump into the air and avoid it. Of all the challenges this was, in Bob's mind, by far the easiest of them all, as he was able to dodge the penguins like they were nothing and that pleased Murray, making him throw faster and he even asked if the larger penguin wanted to join in, giving Bob a little bit of a challenge when they threw two penguins and forced him to dodge both of them in rapid succession. Despite that Bob found that victory was eventually his, much to his new friend's joy as he clapped his flippers together, and he gladly accepted the metal that was awarded to him, as well as a few hours of rest, because he had been working hard and deserved some time off before they resumed his training... and Murray made sure that he got something to eat so he didn't work himself to exhaustion.
When Bob was finished recovering from the first stage of his training Murray kicked it into high gear, using a random order generator that Bentley created for the names of his challenges and used it to determine the order that Bob had to tackle the challenges in, meaning it would be an entirely different order than before. The large penguin stuck around and helped them out, doing what he had been doing the entire time they had been there and either fought Bob in the ring, threw more penguins at him, or even helped him do some advanced training exercises that came from the future, all of which was designed to get him back into shape. From that point forward Bob lost track of how long they were in the area that they were training in, stopping only to make sure that he was hydrated and had something to eat every now and then, but he knew, from Murray's words, that they were making progress and he eventually found that he was able to do the future exercises rather easily from what Murray called 'repetition'. His new penguin friend was more than happy to cheer him on and spar with him, as it also made him stronger as a result, and eventually part of the training involved Bob making sure that his new friend could do the same exercises that he had been doing, causing Murray to nod his head in approval as the two of them continued training.
Eventually, however, the training came to a stop when Bob was able to climb the pillar that Murray was standing on, causing him to cheer in happiness for Bob's success, though at the same time Bob and his new friend nodded to each other as they went their separate ways, as they would be back to do this again once Grizz was finished.
Now that Bob was ready to assist the gang, and was able to climb up walls once more, he and Murray left the training area and headed over to the spot where Sly had spotted one of Bentley's missing components, though since there were a number of dodo birds patrolling the area the two of them went to town on them. Murray knew that, despite his own skill at climbing walls and what not, he couldn't actually climb the wall that they needed to get around, so he mostly focused on beating up the guards so that Bob could keep the energy that he had left for the climb, but that didn't stop the prehistoric raccoon from hitting the guards anyway. Once the dodo birds were taken care of Bob approached the icy wall and dug into it with his claws, since that was what they were designed for, while allowing his tail to curl around the handle of his club so he could carry it with him, before Murray watched as he ascended the wall that was in front of him and made his way towards the device that Bentley needed him to recover. Bob's fists also came into play, as there were some bones sticking out of the icy wall and if he pounded the ice he could shatter the brittle bones without damaging the structure he was climbing on, allowing him to progress without really wasting too much time on the obstacles that were right in front of him, while also giving him the ability to focus on his objective.
When Bob finished climbing and reached the area that he was supposed to be navigating himself through, however, he had to pause as he marveled at the binocucom that he had been given, an interesting toy that allowed him to see more than his eyes allowed him and gave him the ability to communicate with Bentley, who couldn't explain how the toy worked since he needed him to get the 'sprocket' back.
Bob immediately climbed up the wall that was in front of him and made sure to jump over the gaps that were in his way, as well as breaking the brittle bones in the wall sections as well, before coming to an area that he could walk though, giving him the change to smash some small pink colored scorpions with his club before he found the way he was supposed to move forward. The next wall segment had some modern challenges he needed to avoid, such as large falling eggs and spikes that erupted from a special designed contraption that Bentley said he'd explain later, but even if Bob was still getting the hang of things again he discovered that these presented him with no real challenge, not after everything that Murray put him through earlier. He even had to loose his grip and slide down the side of the wall at one point, which he considered fun, before jumping over to a new part of his path and climbed up to the nest that the part he had been sent to find had been dropped into, though it was rather easy for him to spot since it was so different from the eggs that were around it. When he moved to collect the part, however, both it and he were grabbed by a pterodactyl, though Bob was forced to let go and watched as the part was taken even higher than before, to which he growled and continued climbing through the new part of the nest that he was in... and the only thing he had to be really careful about was making sure that he didn't wake any of the baby pterodactyls up from their naps, otherwise he was sure that the mama would do something to the device Bentley was after.
This time around, when he found where the device was located, he carefully retrieved it without making any noise and then made his way back down to where the others were waiting for him, as he was sure that Bentley would be happy to have this back in their possession.
When Bob returned to the village he found something interesting, Murray was running around squeezing the five penguins that had apparently swallowed the parts of the other device that Bentley needed, or at least that was what he was told when he arrived on the scene. It was easy to keep them contained to a single area, as it appeared that Diz was using his 'power', another term that Bob was unfamiliar with, to keep the five targets contained in a single area so Murray could get what he came for, forcing the penguins to cough up the parts that they had swallowed. Between the pair and Bob's missions it was clear that Bentley would have the pieces he needed to fix whatever it was that was broken and then, like he promised Bob earlier, they would figure out what they were going to do about Grizz and finally take him out.
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.
It didn't take the gang long to make their way to their destination, Medieval England, where Sir Galleth Cooper, a gallant knight that had founded the Cooper Order, lived and worked, doing exactly what Coopers did best while also showing that he fought for the king. Upon their arrival, however, they discovered that whoever was attacking this time period had reduced the regal knight to a local circus jester, complete was a ridiculous costume if the poster was to be believed, though they all agreed that it really didn't matter what sort of villain had been sent here, as it was all Le Paradox's fault in the end. While they were setting up shop in the spacious interior of a large tree, one that Diz hadn't worked his magic on and swore that there was some hint of magic in the air, the gang also noticed that Bentley didn't seem as into the actions of setting up their newest safe house. It wasn't hard for the others to figure out that he was missing Penelope, who he hadn't heard from since her disappearance and they were all wondering if she had been abducted by Le Paradox as well, forced to help him in his insane plans against her will, but for now anything they thought of was just their theories.
Once the safe house was ready for them, for as long as they were in this time period, Sly and Carmelita headed out into the field, as it was time for them to see just what they were up against and maybe figure out who they were going to need to take down before Le Paradox got his hand on another Cooper Cane. As they made their way towards the marker that Bentley was projecting, however, the duo noticed that there were some normal guards, owls that walked on two legs instead of what Clockwerk's form showed and porcupines that held maces, and the more unusual guards, mechs that were designed to look like wolves. That immediately told them that whoever had been sent here, to take out Galleth and retrieve his cane, had to be an engineer or mechanic of some kind, to which they shelved that thought as they moved through the area, only pausing to swipe something from one of the pockets they walked by. The area that Bentley was sending them to, as they soon discovered, was one of the high sections of the wall that rested between the part of town they had set up shop in and the other half of town that was right before the castle, protecting part of the town in case the place was attacked by some invading force.
"Okay Bentley, we're in position." Carmelita said, to which she and Sly pulled out their binocucoms and pointed them in the direction of the circus tent that was off in the distance, where Galleth was currently doing whatever it was that he was being forced to do, "What's our mission?"
"First off, the two of you will need a more appropriate outfit to infiltrate the circus." Bentley informed them, revealing that this was one of the few times that the two of them would be able to wear the same disguise, despite the fact that there would be some differences between the two, "But in order to do that, I'm going to need some raw materials. The trick is going to be finding some quality wood, leather, and metal."
"Sure. Anything else you want me to pick up while we're out?" Sly asked, because he figured that as long as they were running around they might as well gather whatever else they might need for their brief stay in this time period, while at the same time Carmelita sensed that he was about to joke around a little, "Eggs, milk... maybe some wax for your shell?"
"Just get going, Sly." Bentley replied, to which he cut off the connection and let the two of them move on, where they guessed that he wasn't in the mood for jokes and Sly knew that he'd have to do something to make Bentley feel better, even if the only thing that would really do that was figuring out what happened to Penelope.
Fortunately for them Carmelita had the bright idea to find a pair of guards and sneak up to a point where neither of them would see them, allowing the pair to listen in on the conversations that were going on around them, and she struck gold when the first group mentioned that the 'Tavern' had a new metal alloy. The Tavern, as it turned out, was on the outside of the main village, close to their safe house as they discovered, and soon enough the two of them slipped in through the hatch on the roof, allowing them to drop down into the area and begin their search for the metal that Bentley needed for their new costumes. When they entered the building the duo found that the only way forward was by jumping over some obstacles near the ceiling and then crawling under some tables, something that both of them started to do while they ignored the smell of fuel and the fact that there were open flames in some parts of the building. What was interesting was that the metal they were after happened to be in the form of a few metal gears that were hidden behind a large spinning gear, far from the tables they had crawled under, to which both Sly and Carmelita grinned as they claimed their prize and made their way out of the tavern.
Once they were back outside the two of them searched for another pair of guards, as Sly had to admit that Carmelita's plan had worked like a charm, and sure enough they found two more mech wolves talking to each other, on a part of the stone wall, causing the two of them to sneak into the area below their targets and wait for a few moments. The two mech wolves talked about a poor guard by the name of 'Kraemer' who had been injured recently due to his 'rebigulator' being demagnetized, and one of the guards mentioned that there was some good wood inside the bakery, where they wouldn't have the same fate befall them if they wanted to transfer over there. When they arrived at their new destination, which was on the other side of town, the duo discovered that a computer terminal blocked their way, to which Sly placed a little contraption on the top of the terminal and backed away, allowing him and Carmelita to watch from the shadows as Bentley hacked into the terminal from afar. It did take Bentley a few minutes to crack through the terminal, showing them that whoever was here was good with computers as well, before they were allowed inside the bakery, to which Sly collected the device he set on the terminal and then followed Carmelita inside the building.
What Sly and Carmelita discovered was that it was very easy to get what they had come for, as all they had to do was knock a furnace lid down into position, walk by it, and wait for some flames to get out of their way before claiming the bundle of wood that was located in the machine, allowing them to make their exit and begin the search for a pair of guards that knew where they might find the last component Bentley needed them to find.
The final pair of guards that they found were walking near the clock tower, talking about a company picnic when they arrived, but soon the conversation turned to what they were really after, as it appeared that the local shoemakers had the leather that they were after. What was interesting, and slightly diabolical, was when they made their way through the shoemakers shop they found some machines that seemed to be fabricating metallic hands for something, making them wonder what the person attacking this time period was up to. They used the machine in front of them to get over to where the second hand was being fabricated, where a vent allowed them to moved to the area that the leather they needed was being held in, and once they claimed their prize the two of them headed back to the entrance of the shop and made their way back to the safe house. As they carefully made their way through the village, however, they knew that something was up, that there had to be some reason behind all the mysterious readings that Bentley had gotten at each of the three areas they had been in, but for now they needed to rescue Sir Galleth and hear what happened to him.
Bentley, with Diz working beside him, managed to use the items they had obtained and the other pieces that they already had on hand to do exactly what he had in mind, crafting two Robin Hood inspired costumes for them to use in the field, and when the two costumes were ready they claimed them and headed back out into the field, so they could head into the circus tent and get this mission underway.
The first thing they did was climb the nearby tower and ascended to the top, allowing them to have a good vantage point over the part of the village that they were in, while at the same time they noticed that there was a bucket of arrows nearby, to which they switched into their new costumes and looked like a pair of archers. Sly noticed that the bows that they were holding were purely for firing at targets, meaning that this costume was a navigation type and not a combat type, before he drew an arrow from the bucket and readied it as he aimed at the target that was in front of them. A few seconds later he loosed the arrow he had been preparing and they watched as it struck the middle of the bulls-eye that he had been aiming at, and since there was a rope tied to it he had given them a rope to walk across the gap between them and one of the circus structures. Once they reached the other platform the two of them used the ropes that were in front of them to cross over to which they discovered an entrance in the ceiling of the main tent, allowing them to drop into the interior of the tent so they could begin the search for Galleth.
When they reached the interior of the tent the duo found that they couldn't reach the floor, which Bentley warned them had a sea of motion sensors that would ruin the operation, so Carmelita approached the next bucket and loosed the arrow that she plucked from it, opening the way for them to move forward. The two of them nodded to each other, silently determining that they'd switch turns using the buckets, and the next one had them go through a modern fire trap, one that had three rings of fire that they had to occasionally move through before they were able to reach the other side and move forward. On the way to the third bucket they accidentally made some noise by jumping on the horns that the three inanimate frogs that were hanging in the air, or more accurately the heads that the horns were attached to, though it appeared that no one seemed to care and they moved forward to the best of their ability, all while keeping their eyes open for Sir Galleth... and ignored the various, including numerous, posters that were hanging around the area, all showing something unfortunate happening to the Cooper knight, while encouraging the audience to laugh at him.
There were a few instances where they had to loose an arrow at a moving target, including two moments when they had to be careful of the cannonballs that were being fired up near where they were walking, where Carmelita noted that it was simply because of their programing since no one was near them and that was Bentley's conclusion. They also had to jump on the horns of four more inanimate frogs and ride a rope through a second fire trap, where both Sly and Carmelita agreed that this was all designed to keep Galleth trapped in this area, since he didn't have a bow and some of the more modern parts would only confuse him to no end. At the same time, however, they noticed that some of the areas the two of them had gone through looked like obstacles that only a modern Cooper would have been able to bypass, meaning that whoever was attacking this time period had to know about the Cooper Clan and some of their techniques, like this was a test or a way to keep non Coopers away from Galleth. So far they had no idea what was going on and who their foe was, but at the same time they were hoping that the ancestor that was being harassed would be able to tell them exactly what was going on, which was why they were climbing the side of the post that Galleth was stationed on... though when they found him it appeared that he was completely unhappy, which was natural given what had happened to him, and he wore the jester hat while looking like he was ready to snap his jester stick in half.
"Sir Galleth?" Sly asked, though at the same time he and Carmelita had taken a moment to switch back into their normal attire before approaching the knight, as they didn't want to upset him with their archer costumes, if such a thing could upset him anyway, and he was happy to see the knight look at them, instead of ignore them, "My name is Sly, and this is Carmelita. We've come to rescue you."
"Greetings, friends." Galleth replied, taking a moment to bring his right fist above his chest, a sign of a warrior or knight the duo guessed, before he thought about what they said and seemed to have an answer for that, "But I require no rescue. I am merely... biding my time until the... um, proper strategic moment. Yes. That!"
"So, how long have you been 'biding your time'?" Carmelita inquired, though even as she said that, and her voice revealed something that Galleth might have been trying to ignore, she noticed that he, much like Tennessee, stared at her with shock and interest, something that she could do without.
"Well, I suppose it has been about a fortnight." Galleth said, to which he scratched the back of his head for a moment, a sign that showed the duo that something was definitely up in this time period, though at the same time it was clear that there was only one thing they needed to do.
"If you want to stay here, with the cannonballs and the flaming rings, be our guest." Sly said, as he was beginning to suspect that Bob might have been the easiest member of his family line, since the prehistoric raccoon had easily listened and escaped without any fuss, "We're heading back to our gang's hideout, so we can plan our next move."
Just like Sly suspected, since most of his ancestors seemed to act like him, with the exception of Rioichi, Galleth sprung off of where he had been sitting and proclaimed that now was the time to strike at their foe, a 'black tyrant' as he called their unknown enemy, and both he and Carmelita helped Galleth back to the safe house. When Galleth finally calmed down he told them that the area was currently in control of a fearsome warrior known as the Black Knight, whose origin was a complete mystery and he possessed a stunning technological advantage over him, including the power to know the very moves that Galleth was going to use, like he had read them either from his mind or from the Thievius Raccoonus. An interesting fact was that he had tried to take this Black Knight on, to save the area and whatnot, and while he was able to take out the mechanical wolves on his own he found that he was no match for the Black Knight, who had captured him and seized his cane as his prime prize. The downside was that his description of the person who beat him didn't match any of the criminals from the future, meaning that Le Paradox might have given someone from this time period the keys to defeating Galleth, but that didn't explain the rest of the operation that was going on, meaning that whoever Le Paradox had recruited for this time period had to be from their time, though who it was they had no idea.
Despite declaring that they needed to 'restore the Cooper honor', showing that Galleth was still annoyed about being shown up in such a manner, he was still somewhat calm as he stared at Derpy, Gilda, and Diz for a few moments, causing the rest of the gang to wonder if something was wrong with the ancestor.
"Is... is something wrong, Sir Galleth?" Bentley asked, because this was the first time that any of the ancestors had reacted in such a way to the trio of magic users, and right now he wanted to know if there was something going on with them that they needed to know about.
"Pardon me, they merely reminded me of someone else." Galleth replied, though at the same time he removed the jester hat that he had been wearing, as he forgot to remove it in the heat of leaving the circus tent, and picked up the blade that he had hidden inside this tree some time ago, a spare in case something happened to his main sword and his cane, "In one of the towers of this land, sometimes the castle and sometimes out in the wild, lives a sorcerer who has a light gray coat, dark violet colored eyes, and both his hair, tail, and beard are all light gray colored, though he also walks on two hooves like your sister does. If I'm remembering his appearance right he also wears a light blue robe, with some stars here and there on the fabric and some bells near the edge, that covers his ordinary clothing, and a light blue hat that he says only true magic users can wear, even though part of it rests behind a long unicorn's horn. He was once called Star, um, something... I can't really remember his old name, but these days everyone calls him Merlin."
Sly and the others weren't really sure why Galleth felt that it was necessary to tell them that information, since it was going to be impossible to find Merlin, since he had next to no friends and those that knew his routine never found him where he was supposed to be, so they turned their minds towards the Black Knight and how they were going to deal with him, so they could restore peace to this time period and, hopefully, stop Le Paradox's plans before it was too late.
Once Galleth was situated, and had revealed that Merlin seemed to have the same body type that Derpy did, in the sense that he was a male unicorn and not a female pegasus, Bentley informed them that they needed to get some more information on their enemy, the Black Knight. Derpy and Gilda immediately volunteered to go out into the field, as they were eager to head out and see what they could find in the area, something that he agreed with, since there was the possibility that the Black Knight didn't know that the gang was even here, so even if he was familiar with the Cooper Ancestors he might not be aware of the fact that they had three flyers with them. Sly and Carmelita, on the other hand, urged the duo to be careful, since they had no idea what the Black Knight was capable of and what other surprises he might have, even though Bentley was in the process of figuring out what they needed to do next, to weaken their foe's defenses and maybe even find something they could use to aid them. As the sisters headed outside the safe house, and prepared themselves for their venture, both of them noticed that Carmelita still seemed a little distracted, which made sense considering the fact that her parents were still missing, something that they were going to have to assist her with in the future.
As they left the village that was around the safe house, and flew over the part of the village that was behind the wall, they noticed some flying objects that might be targets in the future, but right now they kept their eyes on the grounds that were below them, before they noticed a beacon floating near some crates, causing them to raise their eyebrows before landing in the area that Bentley wanted them to start a mission in. Not even a few seconds after they landed behind the crates, and tucked their wings in, they heard the sound of the nearby drawbridge lowering into position and turned their heads towards it, where they watched as the bridge between the castle and their location lowered to the point where someone could walk from the castle to the village. Standing on the other side of the bridge was a large imposing knight that was made out of metal, as in what could pass for a mech from the future and not a knight like Sir Galleth, and they noticed the large battle-axe he was carrying in his right hand, something that they wanted to avoid at all costs. Behind the Black Knight floated a cylinder container of some kind and behind that were two of the mech wolf guards, meaning that their foe never went anywhere without an escort, though the two of them remained silent as they pulled out their binocucoms and looked at their imposing foe.
"Derpy, Gilda, I'm not sure if you're aware of what's going on, but it appears that the Black Knight has a patrol moving through the village with a locked case." Bentley informed them, telling the sisters that he must have figured this out while Sly and Carmelita were busy getting the components so they could rescue Sir Galleth, "From the level of security, I'm willing to bet the farm that it's Galleth's cane!"
"It's about the only thing that would require that much security." Gilda commented, to which Derpy nodded her head in agreement, as they both knew that they would have investigated the case while their foe was on the move anyway, but this was good news for them, "I take it you want us to get to the case and connect you to it?"
"That would be nice." Bentley said, as it never ceased to amaze him that the sisters were more focused on their missions than what Sly usually was, since Sly liked to joke around from time to time, before he turned his attention back to the matter at hand, "If what Galleth told us is true, the Black Knight almost never leaves the castle, and in the rare instances where he does leave the castle he only visits the Blacksmith Shop for a short amount of time. This might be the only chance we have to steal the cane back... and get some pictures of him in the process."
Gilda and Derpy made sure that their foe couldn't see them as they snapped some pictures of both the Black Knight's armor, as that was more interesting to Bentley since it didn't seem like anything that should belong in this time period, and then a few more of the case. The pictures of the case would give Bentley an idea what he was working with, though as he went over the pictures, and the girls moved in to take out the guards behind the case as silently as possible, they heard the Black Knight complaining about how hot the suit was, but since his voice was distorted it was impossible to get an idea of who was inside it. What was interesting was that it didn't take them long to best the guards and open the way for Bentley to hack into the case from afar, thanks to the connector that they were carrying, the same that Sly had used earlier, and as they silently followed behind the Black Knight they noticed that he either had no idea that his guards were gone or didn't care in the slightest. Fortunately the sisters didn't have to remain in the area for long, as it only took Bentley a minute to get inside the case with his code and shatter the security system's defenses, allowing the case to float down to the ground and forced it to open before them, where Gilda smiled as she grabbed Galleth's lance-cane and joined Derpy in the air so they could deliver the good news to Galleth and the rest of the gang.
The moment the two of them returned to the safe house they returned the cane to Galleth, who gladly accepted it and charged out to carry out the objectives that he had been tasked with completing, though at the same time Diz flew outside as well, to keep an eye on him and assist him if necessary... and when Galleth stood on part of the wall, that allowed him to overlook the village near the castle, Diz helped him with the binocucom, since he was unfamiliar with the technology that they were using.
"Sir Galleth, those balloons in the sky are more than mere decorations for the circus." Bentley said, revealing that he had discovered something interesting about them, especially since he had recognized part of their construction while he was staring at them, even if he thought it was just a coincidence and meant nothing, "The Black Knight can use them to monitor our movements and our conversations."
"Pray tell, how can such a thing be possible?" Galleth asked, though that was alarming, as it informed him of the fact that his foe had known that he and his knights had been coming long before they got into position, something that he was still sore over.
"Simple, it's modern technology brought back to the past." Diz explained, as that was the best way to tell the ancestor something without really going into detail, since he didn't need to know the ins and outs of what sort of technology they had access to in the future.
"Basically, think of them as eyes and ears in the sky that can hear and see things that are far away." Bentley added, just in case the first explanation did nothing for the ancestor they were dealing with, before he focused on what he needed him to do, "Galleth, you're the only one around these parts that can deal with them."
Galleth nodded and decreed that he'd use his Catapult Crash technique to destroy the 'airborne demons', causing Diz to follow him towards the first of the three areas that the one of the three balloons were floating above, giving him the chance to watch as Galleth used the hooks and his own abilities to swiftly move along the exterior of the tower, without making a sound from his armor. Even the sound he made when he smashed through the wooden obstacles that were in his way were near silent, as Diz had to strain himself to hear the noise, and soon enough Galleth flew into the air and smashed the first balloon into pieces, destroying the machine in the process. From there he relied on Diz to direct him to the second tower, even though Diz, as a thief, made sure to pick some interesting pockets along the way, though upon their arrival Galleth set himself to his task and made around the exterior of the tower, keeping his focus as he headed towards the highest point once more. It wasn't long before he scaled to the highest point and flew into the air, smashing both the balloon and the machine to pieces, before he rejoined Diz and allowed himself to be directed to where the third and final obstacle was waiting for him, even though the tower was much closer to the castle than the previous two happened to be. Even though the obstacles on the exterior of the final tower were different from the first and second one, something that caught Diz's attention, Galleth was able to make short work of the obstacles and quickly smashed his target to pieces, to which he returned to Diz with a smile on his face.
"Forsooth! That was exciting!" Galleth said, though at the same time he glanced at the castle and seemed to recall something, because not a few seconds later he turned back towards Diz, "Sir Diz, do you think we might make a detour and deal with the local Moat Monster? It's said that it lives in the nearby cavern and that it will protect the castle, and the Black Knight, should anyone try to attack it."
To Diz this sounded like the Black Knight had installed a new defensive measure that would become active if a group or something tried to assault the castle, meaning that if they wanted to succeed in taking out the Black Knight they would first need to destroy this monster, to which he nodded his head and followed Galleth out to the part of the village that was on the other side of the wall. From there they carefully crossed over the bridge that connected the area their safe house was in to the cavern that Galleth had been talking about, where the ancestor used the hook and his Catapult Crash to get up to where the door was located, allowing Diz to land near him before they ventured inside the cavern. It wasn't long before they found what Diz determined was a massive power generator, for what he had no idea since it was unlikely that the Black Knight would leave the power source for his castle out in an area where people could find it, but he didn't have much time to do anything as Galleth ran forward and started using the hooks and obstacles to climb up the sides of the generator, indicating that he was eager to find the 'Moat Monster' and put an end to it. Diz, on the other hand, spread his wings and flew near the generator, keeping his eyes on Galleth as he noticed that this particular ancestor was good at what he did, since he didn't need help at all, though at the same time he noticed the magma around the area and guessed that it was being used to power something... and he had to guess that all of this was going to power the Moat Monster, meaning that this was going to be a worthwhile venture for the two of them.
When Galleth reached the top both he and Diz discovered that the 'Moat Monster' was a massive red colored mechanical dragon that had three heads, and, before he could stop him, Galleth found out how to unplug the creature, allowing it to turn on and turn all of it's heads on them... but, instead of wasting time and energy defeating the metal monster, Diz just called his chaotic power into his hands and blasted the dragon in the chest, blowing it to pieces and leaving a shocked Galleth standing beside the remains.
"Methinks Merlin will have some competition for whose the strongest sorcerer, because I've never seen or heard of him doing anything like that before." Galleth commented, his tone indicating that he was shocked, while at the same time the grin on his face told Diz that the ancestor knew that they would be able to defeat the Black Knight in no time.
Diz, despite the fact that Merlin might be annoyed the next time Galleth saw him, couldn't help but smile as the two of them left the cave behind so they could return to the safe house and see what else Bentley had for them and the rest of the gang to do before the operation to deal with the Black Knight.
When they returned to the safe house Bentley informed them that it was time for them to hit the Black Knight where it hurt, as in the operations that he had set up and they had uncovered when they were gathering items for Sly and Carmelita's archer costumes. The first one of them to make a move was Murray and Diz, who would be hitting the local tavern to smash up the place and disrupt the fuel making machines, which would hurt both the mech wolves and whatever else their foe was planning, since they had no idea what his final scheme was. Sly and Carmelita were going to head back into the shoemakers and disrupt the machines there, while Galleth went into the bakery and did the same thing, since he was still the only one that could reach the upper floor without destroying the entire building. Bentley, Gilda, Derpy, and Clockwerk were going to keep an eye on the local communications and see if they could figure out where the Black Knight was hiding, because with some luck this would draw him out of hiding and maybe let them figure out what his goals were, so they could bring it down as well.
With the plan in motion the group of five headed out of the safe house and branched off as they headed towards their own objectives, starting with Murray and Diz walking into the tavern and raining destruction down upon the guards that were watching over the machines. While Murray kept the crowds occupied, by beating the stuffing out of them, Diz worked his magic and allowed the chaotic nature of his power to tear apart the machinery, even transforming certain pieces into items that would be considered trash so they couldn't be put back together. Since Murray was too busy knocking around the guards, and taking their items when he found something nice, Diz was sure that he'd be okay with not smashing the actual machines until they were slag, and when the third machine was taken care of he called Murray out of his battle mode and they escaped from the tavern, leaving a number of knocked out guards behind, who wouldn't be able to explain what happened since they had no idea how the machines got dismantled. As they headed back to the safe house they overheard Sly and Carmelita attaching something to a terminal in the shoemaker's shop, thanks to their binocucoms, and soon enough they were back at the table in the safe house to hear Bentley cheer for joy as he shut down the machines in that shop, meaning that the duo could come back as well.
Galleth, on the other hand, found it easy to get into the bakery, make his way to the hook that allowed him to access the upper floor, and then use his Catapult Crash to get up to the second floor, where he ran around the area and used his technique to smash his way through the first target... and not even a minute later they heard the sound of the alarms and then Galleth sounding happy as he escaped an explosion, meaning that the generator was out of commission and that the Black Knight would be angry when he found out what happened.
As he headed back to the safe house, however, he revealed that he heard the sound of the drawbridge moving again and Bentley told him to get back to where they were waiting, while at the same time he sent both Sly and Carmelita out to see what the Black Knight was up to. As Bentley expected the Black Knight was walking down one of the streets of the village, though as the two of them stuck to the roofs, as they followed after their target, they heard him mention that the production facilities were down, and that he had a feeling that the Cooper Gang was behind it. That meant that he knew they were there, helping Galleth reclaim his place in history, and he even mentioned that the balloons that Galleth had destroyed were gone as well, but the way he spoke indicated that he knew who was responsible for these actions. It wasn't long before the Black Knight reached the blacksmith shop and walked inside, which was when Bentley caught up with them and beckoned for them to stand aside so he could head inside and get some answers, which was why he used the hatch on the roof to get inside the building.
Bentley remained hiding in the rafters as the Black Knight entered the shop, though something interesting happened not a few moments later, the Black Knight turned around and moved the door blocker into position, preventing anyone from the outside from entering after him, before putting his battle-axe diagonally in the opening, to provide extra protection against someone trying to get in, and then leaned back against the door.
"I... I can't do this anymore." the Black Knight said, though at the same time Bentley was shocked, as their opponent's tone suggested that he was admitting defeat before he and the gang even had a chance to form their plan of attack, and he watched as the knight rested his helm against the door.
"Then why did you do it to begin with?" a voice asked, to which Bentley looked over the other edge of the rafter he was on and found Edward Fox standing out in the open, though while he looked annoyed about the situation he also seemed sad about something.
"The reason why would only anger you both further." the Black Knight replied, confusing Bentley even further, as it sounded like the Black Knight had been tasked with keeping track of Carmelita's parents and had kept them in the one building that his guards wouldn't enter, meaning that they'd be safe and under his watchful gaze all the time.
"Darling, if you didn't want to tell us why this is happening, you wouldn't have come talk to us as often as you have." a second voice said, to which Bentley noticed that his thoughts were confirmed, as Margret Fox was present as well, though she also seemed as sad as her husband was, and her word choice confused Bentley.
Bentley turned back towards the Black Knight as a compartment opened in the middle of his chest, where Penelope, who looked much sadder than what Bentley remembered, climbed out of the seat that allowed her to control the suit of armor that she had made for herself, but what shocked Bentley was that it looked like she had been crying lately. A few seconds later Penelope walked away from the Black Knight and came to a stop near one of the walls, where she sat down and put her head in her hands, something Bentley only saw when Penelope's emotions got the better of her, making him wonder what had happened to her, as this wasn't the girl that he had been working with before her disappearance. Even now, without hearing anything, he could tell that Penelope's heart wasn't in this, that she didn't want to cause havoc on the timeline or hurt Sly's ancestors, but something had happened to her, that much he knew, and whatever it was had been strong enough to force her into this position.
"I want to tell you, but I'm afraid of what will happen if I do." Penelope said, though she glanced up for a moment and glared at the armor she had been using moments ago, where Bentley saw the signs of hatred in her eyes for a few seconds, before she sighed and her expression returned to normal as she looked away, "What will Bentley and the others think of me when they break into the castle and find out that I was the one that forced Galleth into the position that they found him in? I came to think of them as my family, just like they did with a fair number of the people that they welcomed into their gang, and yet Le Paradox forced me to turn on my new family... and ruined my plans of spending the rest of my life with Bentley..."
"Penelope..." Bentley said, causing Penelope to look up at him as he used his hover feature to jump down and safely land near her, but as he approached her he noticed that there were a number of emotions tormenting Penelope, and all of them had been because of Le Paradox, "what did that madman do to you?"
"Bentley..." Penelope replied, though he could see more tears forming in her eyes, either because she was happy to see him again or just remembering why she had been put in this situation was emotional for her, before she beckoned for Carmelita's parents to join them, "Le Paradox... he came to me the night I went out for more supplies and said that if I didn't give him the plans for the time machine, and help him with his little 'project', that he'd send a professional hitman after Sly, Carmelita, and the kids. Clockwerk wasn't the only one watching the house that night, he had the hitman waiting near the house, ready to go inside at a moment's notice, so he could have killed Sly and his family if I said no, and he played on my emotions to get what he wanted, the time machine and my assistance. I was told that if I helped him send his forces back in time, and even secure one of the Cooper Canes myself, that he'd recall the hitman and leave us alone, but every step filled me with sadness, as I knew that the others he had under his command were hurting the other ancestors and that Sly would never forgive me for what I did... wait, are the kids alright?!"
"Penelope, both Daniel and Elizabeth are fine... especially after their adventure in the Old West and visiting the Prehistoric Age on accident," Bentley answered, though at the same time he noticed that Carmelita's parents were happy to hear that the kids were safe, while Penelope, on the other hand, tilted her head in confusion, "Before we came to check on Rioichi's time period, since he was the first one to have his pages disappear from the Thievius Raccoonus, we left the kids in the care of Edward and Margret Fox, figuring that with two high ranking Interpol officers watching over them they'd be safer than if we left them with, say, Dimitri. When we took on Toothpick, however, he revealed that Le Paradox had dropped off the kids and that the fake sheriff was planning on sending them crashing into the river by a runaway carriage, which was when we learned that they had been taken in the first place, though once we stopped Grizz, in the Prehistoric Age, we took them back to the future and left them in Secretary Sen's care until we got back."
"That lying... stinking... bastard!" Penelope snapped, surprising the trio that was standing in front of her, especially since she got back onto her feet and the sad look on her face had become one of anger, "He lied to me. HE LIED TO ME!! He said that if I helped him, he'd leave the kids out of this and call off the hitman... I can't believe what a fool I was for thinking that I could believe a word he said."
"You aren't to blame for what happened," Bentley said, though even as he said that he noticed that Penelope was looking at him and that she was smiling, as he didn't have to say anything, she knew, just by looking at him, that he believed in her and knew that she would never willingly betray the gang, and he was happy to see that, despite her earlier sadness, hatred, and anger, that the Penelope he loved was still in there, "and I think you know whose to blame for everything that's happened so far..."
"Le Paradox." Penelope stated, though at the same time she pulled out a remote and tapped one of the buttons, to which a door opened nearby and showed a hidden way out of the building, which she started walking to, "Come on, I'd like to explain myself to Sly and the others, and I'm hoping that they aren't too unhappy with me, before we start putting together a plan to stop Le Paradox's plans... I think you'll be happy with what I have in mind, Bentley."
Bentley smiled as he used his wheelchair to keep up with Penelope, while Edward and Margret followed after them, because despite the outer shell that was the Black Knight, a persona she created to hide her feelings, Bentley was happy to see that the real Penelope, his confident and powerful girlfriend, was ready to take charge again... and this time around Le Paradox would be on the receiving end of a plan that the two of them created, and enacted by the furious rage of the Cooper Gang and Clockwerk.
It didn't take Penelope long to escort Bentley and Carmelita's parents outside the blacksmith shop, where once they were outside the shop she turned back around and tapped the same button she had pressed earlier, where the secret entrance sealed up behind them. The downside to leaving the Black Knight armor behind was that they had to be weary of the normal guards that patrolled the village, the reason they didn't do the same to the mech wolves was because Penelope made them and they were designed to recognize her in either form she decided to use. Bentley admitted that it was a good idea for her to have done that, as they walked by one of the mech wolves that saluted Penelope before moving onward, and it made getting to the outside section of the village all that much easier, which was when he took over and directed them towards their safe house. Fortunately they found that none of the guards seemed to notice what they were doing, allowing them to get up to the entrance of the safe house and enter it before they were seen, meaning that Le Paradox would have no idea what they were doing if he suddenly decided to contact Penelope.
Carmelita was overjoyed to see that they had found her parents, since they had been missing since Daniel and Elizabeth had been taken earlier, and Sly echoed her thoughts, since they were part of the family, though the rest of the gang was overjoyed to see that Bentley had found Penelope as well. When everyone settled down Penelope informed them of what she told Bentley earlier, that she had been threatened with the death of Sly, Carmelita, and the kids, by Le Paradox in order to get her cooperation with his plans, which mostly included sending the main enemies they had fought back to the time periods they had been sent to. None of the group were happy with that information, as it proved that their true enemy was willing to do anything and everything to ensure the cooperation of those that he employed, making them wonder if any of the other foes had been tormented in such a way, but at the same time they were angry by the fact that the skunk was so willing to sacrifice children for his cause. Clockwerk, on the other hand, flew outside the safe house and remained outside for some time, where the gang heard a screech of pure anger a few moments later, indicating that he didn't like Le Paradox... and when the ancient owl returned he remained silent and simply returned to his perch, which was an indicator that he wasn't in the mood to talk.
Galleth, seeing how emotional they were over the news, was wise to stand aside and let them do what they were doing, but at the same time he found that he was interested in who Penelope was and why the gang was so interested in her, before he put the pieces together and discovered that he was standing near his sworn enemy.
"Impossible! The Black Knight can't be a lady!" Galleth exclaimed, though he didn't know whether to attack her, by using his sword or this lance-cane, or simply stand there and try to make sense of the situation that he had found himself in, as he felt that striking her would be wrong, especially since she didn't seem like a warrior and the action would only make the gang dislike him.
"Well, he is." Penelope replied, but she couldn't fault Galleth for looking at her like he didn't like her, not when she loosed a stun rocket at his fellow knights and knocked them out or when she punched him in the face, knocked his cane out of his hand, and sent him to the circus to serve as a jester, before she sighed, "Look, Galleth, I know you might not forgive me for what I've done to you and the village, but, well, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for everything that I've put you through recently."
Galleth looked into Penelope's eyes for a moment, finding that there was no malice in her voice nor was there the desire to lie in her eyes, rather he found a painful sorrow that hadn't been there moments ago, meaning that she truly felt sorry for the deeds that she had been forced to commit recently... and despite the humiliation that he had suffered at her hands, after his defeat and the loss of his cane, he couldn't find it in himself to hate her or do anything to her that would upset her friends.
"I, uh... well..." Galleth said, though at the same time he rubbed the back of his head and quickly found that everyone was looking at him, as if he was, as they said, making a scene or something like that, before he sighed and braced himself as he stared into Penelope's eyes once more, "Lady Penelope, I... I accept your apology."
"Well that's a relief," Penelope said, as she had been thinking that Galleth wouldn't forgive her for what she had done, but at the same time she was happy to see that he was willing to believe her, especially since she had only done this to keep Sly and the others safe, something that had been broken by Le Paradox's betrayal, "I promise you that, once we've set a plan in stone and we're ready to leave this time period, I'll recall the mech wolves and return the village to how it was before I arrived."
"Perhaps a visit to Merlin is in order, before your departure?" Galleth asked, causing the gang to look at him for a moment, as if they wondered what he was doing by suggesting such a thing in the first place, and he even noticed the looks that they were giving him, "It's not every day that three novice sorcerers appear in this village, ones with great power I might add. Maybe they can learn a thing or two from Merlin before your forced to chase after the foe that dared to use children as, um, hostages."
"He's right." Sly said, to which the gang looked back at him for a moment, as they were a little surprised that he was agreeing with his ancestor's proposal, especially since they had no idea what Le Paradox was planning, "It might be worth the few minutes we'll spend talking with the powerful sorcerer, as he might be able to teach you three something or even boost your powers to the next level, which we might be able to use against Le Paradox and his plans."
Galleth, happy to have one of them agree with him, proceeded to leave the safe house and beckoned for the gang to follow him as he headed into the forest that was near where the village was located, to which Sly and the others walked outside the safe house and followed him. It didn't take them long to reach the edge of the forest, though as they entered the forest Derpy, Gilda, and Diz realized that the part of the forest that they had been brought to had some magic dancing in the air around them, meaning that they might have reached the edge of the area that was Merlin's domain. They looked around as they followed Galleth through the forest, noticing that the magic seemed to be hiding the place that Merlin called home, as a few moments went by before they seemed to pierce the veil, and the reason the gang thought that was because they stepped out into a clearing that Bentley confirmed wasn't in the forest to begin with, at least from what he and Penelope knew of the area. Resting in front of them stood a lone tower that was as tall as the oak tree that their safe house was located in, one that was made from stone, wood, and strengthened by magical energies, but even as they neared the trio realized that there was a powerful individual resting in the tower... one that was definitely as strong as them, at the very least, even though they had no idea just how strong Merlin really was.
When they neared the door, however, Galleth stepped forward and lifted the knocker that was on the door, to which he knocked on the door that was in front of them and let the sound echo throughout the tower, before he took a step back and waited with the gang for a few moments... though their patience was rewarded as the door opened a minute later and they found the figure that Galleth had told them about earlier standing in the doorway.
"Galleth, it is good to see you again." Merlin said, though at the same time he actually stepped out of his tower and showed that the ancestor's description of him was spot on, despite the fact that he was using an interesting oak staff with a blue crystal on it's tip to assist him in walking, a staff that held some power inside it, before he noticed that there was more than just Galleth standing outside his tower, "What's all this about?"
"Great Merlin, I found three novice sorcerers that are on a quest to defeat a great evil," Galleth explained, which was actually true, since Le Paradox could be seen as a 'great evil' for what he was doing to the time periods that the Cooper Ancestors were located in, but the gang said nothing as he continued, "I felt that, before they got underway, they might stop by your tower and learn something that might help them in their quest... if you were willing to teach them before they have to depart, that is."
"So, you found more of my kind..." Merlin commented, to which the unicorn sorcerer stepped forward and stared at Derpy and Gilda for a moment, as there were the ones that he was more interested in at the moment, "Ah, a pegasus that commands the power of lightning, and a griffin that has harnessed the power of the wind itself... most interesting. It has been some time since I've seen, much less been in the same area as, someone of my kind, and yet there is someone among you that is different from the rest, carrying a power I have not felt in long time."
Galleth knew the tales that had been spread about Merlin, that he was over a thousand years old or that he was an undying being that had come to the mortal plane and was learning everything about magic that he could, from the safety of his magical tower the only a select few knew the way to, though this was a confirmation that he was old, which made sense considering his age and his appearance.
"You are familiar to me, and not because of your innate chaotic nature and powers." Merlin continued, to which he turned his gaze towards Diz, who rubbed his arm for a moment and decided that, since they were in the presence of such a powerful and well respected sorcerer, that he might as well show him everything, so he brought his two different wings out and let his serpent dragon tail coil around his left leg as he stared at Merlin, "Young one, what name do you go by?"
"I am Diz S. Cooper, formerly Diz S. Cordious." Diz replied, though it had been some time since he used the name that he had been given at the orphanage he had been dropped off at, a time that had been before he found the gang that he now called his family, "I changed my last name when I joined the Cooper Gang, because they quickly became a family that filled the gap in my heart... one that was left because my parents, whoever they were, abandoned me at an orphanage when I was young."
"Diz S. Cordious... interesting." Merlin said, though at the same time he waved his staff towards the tower and a small chalkboard floated out to where they were standing, complete with the chalk and the eraser, before he carefully wrote the name that Diz had told him on the board, "Tell me, have you ever removed the z from your first name, along with the ious from your last name, and just combined the remaining letters together, into a single mass?"
"No. I never thought to do something like that." Diz answered, though at the same time he had to wonder why such a thing even mattered, because from the way Merlin was talking it sounded like he knew one of his own ancestors, even if it wasn't his birth parents, "Why do you ask?"
"Because of this." Merlin replied, to which he turned the chalkboard over and showed them what he had written over the last few minutes, where the gang discovered that he had removed the letters he had asked Diz about and used the remaining letters to form a new name, and that name was 'Discord', "Does this name mean anything to you?"
Diz stared at the name for a few seconds, his mind telling him that the name did sound familiar for some reason, but at the same time he found that he couldn't place why it was that way, which was why he ended up shaking his head in the manner that indicated that he had no idea what it was supposed to mean.
"I see... you poor thing." Merlin said, to which he waved his staff and the chalkboard returned to the tower, before he took a few more steps away from the entrance and thought about something, most likely what Galleth had asked of him when they first arrived, "I cannot help your sisters, the pegasus and the griffin, but you, Diz, I can spare a few minutes out of my busy schedule to see how your magic holds up to mine and see if I can't draw out more of your inner power, for your quest to stop this great evil that Galleth mentioned."
Diz nodded and separated himself from the others, as he was surprised that Merlin only wanted to deal with him at the moment, and when the old sorcerer told him to start Diz burst into the air and stared flying around the area, using his body to form copies of himself, a trick he had learned long ago and never bothered to use after joining the Cooper Gang, but he figured that now was the perfect time to bring it back. The problem was that those that were stronger than him could find where he was in no time, which was why Secretary Sen was able to find him so quickly, and despite his already considerable power boost, from his previous adventures, Merlin seemed to know where he was at any given time and didn't seem concerned by his mirror image technique. Diz gathered his power and the images fired bursts of magical energy at the still sorcerer, who simply stood there for a moment and let the spells come flying at him, but he watched in surprise as the spells struck a barrier that seemed to be protecting Merlin, as he was unharmed by the attack and beckoned for him to try again. In the following moments he tried attacking, with his punches and kicks enhanced by his chaotic power, and yet Merlin simply used the edge of his staff to block his attacks and knocked him backwards, showing the gang that his reputation was well earned... and there was even one instance were Merlin raised his hand and caught Diz's next magic attack, before tossing it into the air and letting it detonate before it could hurt anyone.
It went on like that for a few more moments, where Diz tried and failed to even breach Merlin's barrier, though even as that happened Gilda and Derpy determined that this was the purpose of the exercise, as the ancient sorcerer was intentionally wearing Diz down so he could do something... though what that something was they had no idea, since they weren't as versed in the magical arts as Merlin was, especially when he started his counterattack.
The gang was surprised by Merlin's power, in the regard that they were able to confirmed that the legends about him were true and not exaggerated in the slightest, because he was able to loose fireballs from either his hand or his staff and accurately target where his opponent was standing, he could do the same with bolts of ice, lightning had no trouble following Diz around the area, and a number of other spells that told them that Merlin was a force to be reckoned with and not to be underestimated because of his old appearance. The only thing that he didn't do was use his fists or his legs to attack, meaning that he was focused solely on the magical aspect of his powers, and yet Diz couldn't find a way to breach his defenses, meaning that even with his own power boost he wasn't able to crack the barrier that Merlin was using to protect himself. At the same time Diz could tell that he was running low on power, because the number of attempts he was making to break the barrier continued to drain his reserves, something he never really had to do since he had actually never fought another magic user and he had only trained with both Gilda and Derpy over the years, under the watchful eyes of Mz. Ruby, and he was now understanding why so many respected Merlin.
A few moments later Diz was forced to land nearby, showing that he hadn't been ready for this sort of fight despite his prior training, and that was when Merlin formed what appeared to be a glowing blue bow of magical energy, where he loosed an arrow that flew through the air and struck it's target... though in that same instant Diz found that he wasn't the true target, rather it was the strange magical medallion that suddenly appeared above his heart, something he hadn't seen before, which was followed by the object shattering.
The gang watched as Diz fell to one knee as his aura burst to life around him, which surprised Gilda and Derpy for a moment since they were sure that their brother had used up the majority of his power, but even as that happened they watched as a sphere of energy enveloped him, shrouding him from their sight for a moment. When the sphere broke apart they found that Diz's right arm had become that of a lion, his left arm took on the appearance of an eagle's claw, his right leg looked like a lizard's leg, and his left leg did the same thing, only it resembled a goat's leg, and in addition to all of that he sprouted two horns on his head, one that was a deer's antler, which rested on his right side, and a goat's horn on the opposing side. Gilda and Derpy, being the only magic users in the gang, could tell that Diz's power had skyrocketed, indicating that whatever Merlin had done had boosted Diz's powers to an even greater level than they had been before this moment, making them wonder what he could do now. The air around Diz shook for a moment, as if he was gathering his new power once more, before he rushed through the space between him and his target, where he swung his fist at Merlin and struck the barrier with all his might, both magical and physical, to which the gang watched as cracks formed in the magical barrier not even a few seconds later... to which Merlin jumped backwards and let Diz touch the ground, but instead of following after his opponent he huffed for a few seconds.
Not even a moment later his energy wrapped around him and he was snapped out of his form, returning to the state he had been in before Merlin had done whatever he had done, and caused him to fall to one knee in the process, showing that he had burned through his power and that the fight was over.
"I was right, you are his child, even if he doesn't realize it." Merlin stated, to which he glanced at the cracks for a moment and watched as they disappeared, before he approached the downed hyena that was in front of him and helped him back onto his feet, "I will tell you more about your father, but right now you have a great evil to defeat and a quest to finish, so I'll wait till we meet again to tell you what I know."
Diz stared at Merlin for a moment, wondering if this person was serious or if he was pulling his leg, but the fact that Le Paradox was still trying to destroy the Cooper Clan reminded him of what they had come here to do and nodded his head in agreement, causing the sorcerer to give him a smile before heading back into his tower. Since that was their cue to leave the area, and the door closed behind Merlin, Galleth lead them back through the forest and headed towards the village they had been in earlier, leaving them to their own thoughts, where the sisters determined that Diz had unlocked some sort of avatar of some sort, an avatar of chaos maybe. It didn't take them long to reach the village again, where they spent some time making sure that Penelope did as she said and recalled the mech wolves to the castle, which would serve as their resting place until she could come back and deal with them without having to worry about Le Paradox, after they figured out what he was planning and stopped him. It also gave Diz some time to relax and go over what Merlin had said, to which he convinced himself that maybe the old sorcerer had some sort of future sight ability and that was why he mentioned that he could tell him about his father, but even then he decided to push that to the back of his mind, as he wanted to be focused on their mission and nothing else.
Eventually the gang determined that their next target was interested in Salim al-Kuper, in Ancient Arabia as it turned out, and Penelope even said that this was the last of the foes they would have to deal with, since Le Paradox only had four other criminals that were doing his dirty work... and, as it turned out, Penelope even had a golden coin from that exact time period, swiped from the skunk's treasure hoard to help her in case she decided to rebel and take her chances, which was why she was so happy to have the gang stop her when they did. With the coin in hand, and Galleth's time period safe for now, the gang and Carmelita's parents hopped into the van and headed back to the future, so they could drop off Edward and Margret first, before heading to Salim's aid... and to figure out what sort of plan Le Paradox had in mind for that time period, and what his overall scheme was at the same time.
After taking a moment to drop off Carmelita's parents in the future, and spent a few moments with the kids so they could relax a little before they tackled the next time period, the gang climbed back into the van and headed off to Ancient Arabia, where they would begin the search for Salim. It didn't take them long to reach the time period in question, along with finding a location for their safe house that ended up taking the form of a low cave that was away from the path that the guards patrolled, one that also appeared to be set up for a fair number of people. What they discovered was that this was one of the hideouts for the Forty Thieves, the group of thieves that Salim was said to be the charter member of, but from the looks of the area it appeared that the majority of them had retired and gone their separate ways, meaning that they were living out the rest of their lives in peace, which also meant that they wouldn't be expecting reinforcements this time, not that they had needed any in the past. The only thing that was odd was that it appeared that a few of the thieves had remained and that they had gone off with Salim on one final mission before they retired, but from the looks of it Salim and his fellow thieves were missing and hadn't been seen for some time, informing them of what they needed to do first.
As such both Sly and Carmelita headed out into the nearby city and started surveying the area, taking a few pictures every now and then so Bentley could have an idea as to what was around the area for their future missions, before arriving at the point that would allow them to see what Bentley had to say about finding Salim.
"Okay, word on the street is that Salim al-Kuper was driven into hiding, but it also indicated that he's in hiding." Bentley told them, which made sense when they thought about it, since there was another time traveling minion of Le Paradox in this time period, which meant that the two of them needed to be careful as they explored the city, "As you have no doubt guessed, we need to figure out where he's hiding and then figure out what forced him to go into hiding in the first place. To do that, Penelope and I have created a new gadget for you to use."
"Really? In the short amount of time that we've been here?" Carmelita asked, though at the same time she was sure that Penelope had been making plans for the point where she threw caution to the wind and tackled the other people that were attacking Sly's ancestors, to stop them herself, and with Bentley's help she must have completed one of them for whoever was in this area, "What is it?"
"We've made a new visual guidance system that will detect anything that Salim has recently come into contact with, though we had to study your ancestors to make it in the first place." Bentley replied, referring to Sly for a moment, since these were his ancestors that were being targeted, but even then the fact that he and Penelope were able to do such a thing so quickly was impressive, "Maybe you can find some clues as to where Salim has hidden himself or what he might have parted with recently."
Sly and Carmelita put their binocucoms away and crossed over the river that was running through the middle of the city, as from what they could tell one of the places that Salim had been in was the lamp shop that happened to be right across from where the two of them had been standing. Once they entered the building they found that there were quite a number of impressive lamps on the shelves, but what really interested them, besides the ice looking lamp that had Salim's fingerprints on it, was the green metallic door that looked out of place, something that Carmelita snapped a picture of while Sly grabbed one of the lamp. As Sly got a picture of the lamp, however, Bentley asked them to do the same for the door, only to be surprised when a picture of it appeared on his end, showing him that both of the pair knew what he wanted and that they were going to give it to him, before they headed out of the shop and continued their search for Salim and anything else he might have come into contact with recently. From that point the duo continued to explore the city as they searched for more clues, taking pictures of anything that was odd or out of place so Bentley and Penelope could piece together what was happening in this time period, while at the same time proving that they were thieves by stealing the various treasures that were in the pockets of the guards they passed.
What they were able to find, in the entirety of the city, was some bits of Salim's hair that were carefully hidden in an old comb of sorts, some bits of cloth from whatever he was wearing or whatever he had been wearing, and even a heat signature on a rug that Salim must have slept on at some point... which pointed Bentley and Penelope to believe that Salim was on a boat, where the duo found one near where the rug was located and climbed on board. When they moved the cover of the chamber that was near them they found an elderly raccoon sitting on some cushions, eating from a bowl that seemed to be filled with grapes or some other fruit, though he looked more like he was enjoying himself and not that he was hiding from whoever was attacking his time period.
"Greetings. You're Salim al-Kupar, aren't you?" Sly asked, though at the same time the one thing that both he and Carmelita noticed was that his cane was either missing or it had been carefully hidden, like Rioichi's had been when they assisted him earlier.
"And who are you two?" Salim replied in kind, to which he picked up some grapes from the bowl and ate some, clearly showing that he didn't much care for their arrival and was still trying to enjoy himself, making them wonder if this was one ancestor that didn't care to stop whoever was messing with his time period.
"That parts complicated." Carmelita said, because based on how the other ancestors had reacted when they told them that they were Cooper thieves, and the variety of their reactions, she knew that the direct approach might not be the best thing for them to do, "We're thieves, just like you, but we're kind of new in town. How about you come back to our gang's safe house and we'll explain ourselves to you?"
"How about you go lick a camel's hump?" Salim fired back, showing that he really didn't care for them, not like the other ancestors that Carmelita had encountered so far, but right now she had to admit that she liked the others much more than she liked Salim.
"Okay... look, we know you're in trouble, and we're here to help you." Sly stated, though he knew that time was of the essence, because the longer it took them to convince Salim of their intent the longer whoever was attacking their time period completed whatever task they were trying to complete, and he noticed something when Salim discovered that his bowl had run out of food, "We can explain everything to you, but we really need to go somewhere that's more private than this... besides, we've got some food back at the safe house and it looks like you might need some."
"Food?" Salim inquired, though the look that appeared on his face indicated that he was happy to have such an idea come up, before that was replaced by a disappointing look for a few seconds, "It was foolish of you two not to mention that in the first place! Let's go!"
Sly and Carmelita decided that now wasn't the time to correct Salim, since food wasn't as important as the fact that someone was attacking this time period, but at the same time they lead him back to the safe house, where introductions went quickly as Salim stuffed his face on what was offered to him. It was after that moment the gang discovered that a new 'player', a term that Salim used when talking about marks, who called herself Miss Decibel had rolled into town out of nowhere and had started throwing lots of money around. Penelope confirmed that the time traveling lieutenant they had to worry about was Miss Decibel, which made sense considering that she must have met the others before they were sent to their time periods, but she remained quiet as Salim described what happened, as he and the three remaining thieves had decided to pull one last heist before disappearing into retirement, with Miss Decibel being their target. Of course with her advanced technology, either supplied by Le Paradox or bought herself before coming here, Miss Decibel had easily captured his thief brothers, forcing Salim into the position they had found him in, where he had been trying to come up with a plan to free them ever since their capture.
Miss Decibel's background proved to be rather interesting, as she came from a wealthy British family and that her true love was classical music, but thanks to the dangerous combination of the fact that she had no musical talent and her own extreme temper resulted in a freak accident that left her unable to play music the normal way. That accident caused her trumpet to become lodged in the end of her trunk, though she developed the ability to play hypnotic tones, allowing a new criminal to be born as she started to use her power to force others to commit crimes for her, along with whatever else she decided to use her powers for. When the gang informed Salim of Le Paradox, and the whole time traveling part, it seemed to connect in his mind, but at the same time it was also clear that he wasn't about to trust them completely, not yet anyway, meaning that the gang needed to prove themselves before he openly trusted them like the other ancestors did when they assisted them.
Once they knew who their target was Derpy, Gilda, and Diz left the safe house together, heading towards what could be the local pawn shop, while Bentley informed them, by binocucom, and the rest of the gang that Salim has lost a small fortune betting on the local camel races, where he had to pawn his thief outfit as a consequence. The owner of the pawn shop never left his place and had made sure that the building was like a fortress, meaning that they would need to do things the normal way and talk through a slot in the door, as Bentley was sure that retrieving the outfit would give them Salim's trust for the remainder of the time they were in Ancient Arabia. Unfortunately the shopkeeper only accepted payment in the form of flawless gemstones, three to be exact, informing the gang that Bentley or Penelope must have tried this while they were talking with Salim earlier, but the good news was that there just so happened to be three stones of that quality in the walls around the city, as decoration. Since there just so happened to be three targets and three of them, an odd coincidence when they thought about it, the siblings separated from each other and took once of the three statues that stood around the city, using their wings to get around the guards and reach their targets... where all they had to do was pull the nose ring of the statues and loose the gemstones from where they had been resting, even though the three statues had tongues made of movable stone, something they stared at for a few seconds before returning to the task at hand and left with the gemstone they had come for.
The moment the three of them had collected the three gemstones they returned to the door that the shopkeeper would speak to them through, where Gilda and Derpy handed their treasure over to Diz, since a lady at the door might be frowned upon, and moved out of the way as Diz knocked on the door, which was followed by the slot opening and a pair of eyes appearing on the other side.
"What do you want?!" the shopkeeper asked, though while his tone suggested that he didn't care to be interrupted by anyone, meaning that he might be busy in some regard, his eyes glanced down at the gemstones that Diz was carrying at the moment, the glint in his eyes telling Diz that Bentley and Penelope had struck gold once more.
"I heard that you recently acquired a thief outfit," Diz replied, to which he noticed something flicker in the man's eyes, meaning that there were always rumors on the street and that someone would have seen the previous transaction that he was talking about, before he lifted the stones a little more, "and I also heard that the price for the outfit was three flawless gemstones, so I collected these and figured that we could make a trade... but, if you don't want to trade, I can always bet these on the next camel race."
"Hey, if you want to purchase these rags, than who am I to judge?" the shopkeeper stated, though this time his tone told Diz that the man thought that whoever wanted to buy the outfit that Salim had been using before he lost his fortune had to be an utter fool, but instead of causing chaos on him Diz simply moved forward with the transaction.
A few minutes later he left the shop, who had a very happy shopkeeper that as currently studying the flawless gemstones that had been brought to him, and rejoined his sisters, showing them the outfit that Bentley had sent them to retrieve, one that seemed to be modeled for a raccoon's body and almost seemed to look like what Aladdin was supposed to wear, according to the stories and the legends. It also came with a scepter that had an interesting ability, as when Diz focused on it time seemed to slow down for him, since he was the one carrying the scepter, and his sisters were a little surprised to learn what power the scepter possessed, though that allowed them to return to the safe house with a smile on their faces. After they returned to the safe house Sly walked out with the attire on, spinning the scepter as he walked down the street and headed towards the metal gate that he and Carmelita had seen while they were looking for Salim's location, which was another item that confused Bentley and Penelope, though at the same time Diz followed him, just in case his services were necessary.
It didn't take Sly long to find the gate in question, along with the lever that he jumped onto and let it sink down towards the ground as the gate opened, though in that moment he activated the scepter and slowed down time, where he was able to slip under the obstacle before it could close.
"Good job getting in, Sly." Bentley said, though at the same time Sly looked around the area and found several of Le Paradox's crates resting around the tunnel he was in, meaning that he had to be on the right track, "But we've got another problem. Salim tells me that Miss Decibel is constantly changing the locations of the three thieves that he was working with, meaning that it's near impossible to track them and form a plan of attack to free them from whatever Miss Decibel is doing to them."
"Hold up Sly, something's happening ahead of your location." Penelope added, but as the seconds ticked by Sly peeked his head around the corner and found what she was referring to, as Miss Decibel walked forward and stopped in front of Le Paradox, surprising the gang with the fact that he was here as well, "What's Le Paradox doing here?"
"I have no idea, so I'm going to tail them and listen in on their conversation," Sly replied, because that seemed like the smart thing to do, especially since they had no idea what sort of plan Miss Decibel was trying to put in motion, which might actually aid them in their future missions and whatever Bentley and Penelope might have planned.
Sly remained where he was standing and listened as Miss Decibel greeted Le Paradox, who complimented her on her 'beauty', something that even Sly knew he was faking since he didn't care for her or the others, but he remained silent and followed after them as they talked. When the pair stopped on the bridge that was near their meeting place Le Paradox asked if the operation was going according to plan, to which Miss Decibel confirmed that things were going as they had planned and that the three thieves that they had caught were producing forgeries that were of the highest quality, causing Sly to raise an eyebrow for a moment. In that moment Le Paradox revealed that once his "royal lineage was discovered' his wealth and power would be unstoppable, meaning that part of his time traveling operations was all about creating a fake family line for him to use in the future, to put him beyond anyone else and make it impossible for Interpol to touch him, regardless of whatever they found on him. What followed next was also interesting, as Miss Decibel mentioned that 'The Panther' worked best when enjoying scorpion claws, where Le Paradox stated that he'd have more shipped to her so she could get him the documents that she was having the thieves create for him.
As Sly listened to their conversation, while following them through the city, he caught a moment where Le Paradox mentioned that if his failed minions hadn't been taken back to the future, which he and his family was responsible for, the skunk was planning on stranding those that failed him in the time periods they had been sent to, a fate that was crueler than one might think. Following that was Miss Decibel mentioning that 'The Tiger', the second thief she had captured, enjoyed camel cheese and that their supplies were running low, where Le Paradox mentioned that he'd also include that in the next shipment, and before long they had stopped again, only this time there was a mention of 'The Lion' who loved cobra tails, causing Le Paradox to promise that they would be added to the shipment as well. Since it appeared that both of their foes were expecting deliveries, and a delivery boy, both Bentley and Penelope suggested that Sly use the thief attire and present himself as the person in question, to which Diz landed nearby and weaved a little spell onto him, one that masked his voice and made him seem like a local, since Le Paradox might recognize his voice.
With that done Sly approached the tent that the pair had gone into and surprised them, though when Sly made the excuse that the other delivery boy was out on account of snake bites, something that could actually happen, Le Paradox asked him what foods the three thieves required, in a different order than what Miss Decibel had mentioned them, and Sly answered them perfectly. Once he had fooled the two of them into thinking that he was the replacement delivery boy, even though they had no idea who the usual delivery boy was, Miss Decibel handed Sly a map and told him to get going, to which he walked out and smiled as he let the two of them to their conversation, where he and Diz noticed the locations of the three thieves... and with the map in hand they headed back to the safe house, so Bentley and Penelope could create a plan of attack so the gang could rescue the three thieves and stop Le Paradox's plans, before it was too late.
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.
Bentley and Penelope waited about an hour, gathering as much information from the bug in Miss Decibel's office that they could before they revealed what their operation was going to be this time around, allowing the gang to relax from their various activities before they took out the elephant. Diz, despite the fact that they were supposed to be resting and recovering their energy, held a pair of golden rings and seemed to be in the process of enchanting them in some manner, while at the same time Murray seemed interested in something that rested inside the safe house while Salim seemed more interested in snacking on their food, again. The gang knew that Miss Decibel was planning something, based on what the three thieves they had rescued said and was combined with Salim added to their statements, but at the same time Bentley and Penelope wanted to be sure they knew what they were getting into before they started their operation, just in case there was something they might have missed in their haste to free Salim and his friends earlier.
Eventually the duo pulled away from their devices and activated the command that would show them the operation that they had in mind, where Derpy and Gilda noticed that Carmelita seemed distracted by something, which meant that she might know something about what they were planning.
"Okay, thanks to the bug in Miss Decibel's office, we know that she was in the process of creating forged documents that will allow Le Paradox to establish a false family line and make it seem like he comes from a royal family." Bentley said, to which the gang raised their eyebrows for a moment, because hearing what the documents that the three thieves had been making could do all of that was weird and interesting at the same time, especially since someone like Le Paradox would definitely abuse something like that, "Based on what we've been able to get our hands on, we can't allow those papers to make it to the future, as they'll make Le Paradox both wealthy beyond his wildest dreams and he'll be untouchable, meaning that Interpol would never be able to arrest him for anything he's done. Now, we haven't been able to figure out what's behind that security door in the lamp shop, but Penelope and I have agreed that it's the only place where Miss Decibel would deliver the forged documents to Le Paradox, unfortunately we'll need a distraction to keep the guards busy before we head through the door."
"I asked Carmelita this earlier, in private, and she's agreed to help me with the distraction," Penelope added, though at the same time Diz stepped up and produced the rings that he had been working on the entire time they had been figuring out what their operation was going to be, "Bentley told me that Diz created a ring that allowed Murray to look like someone else, back in Rioichi's time period, so I decided to use that power to create two more enchanted rings, ones that will allow both Carmelita and I to appear identical to the cat guards that are patrolling the area. Once we're in disguise we'll gather the guards and perform the local belly dance routine for them, something I wanted to surprise Bentley with since that's something I was practicing when I took my trips to Holland and visited a friend of mine, and Carmelita's on board since the magic will hide our identities from the guards."
"Once you guys are through the door, and have some time to see what's on the other side, we'll knock out the guards and join you for the final assault on Miss Decibel's forces." Carmelita stated, though while she definitely didn't want to do something like this she was glad to have Diz's power on their side, because even if Neyla, by some random chance, came into the lamp shop they wouldn't have to worry about being discovered, "With those forged documents in hand, and destroyed before they can be delivered to Le Paradox, we'll ensure that Miss Decibel is sent to jail for her crimes and then figure out how to completely stop Le Paradox."
Sly was still surprised that Carmelita even wanted to go through with this, even with Diz's magic aiding both her and Penelope, though he said nothing as the two ladies attached the rings to where they were supposed to rest and watched as the light enveloped them for a moment. When the light faded the gang found two siamese cat guards, both with grayish-brown colored fur on their body standing before them, but the only way they could tell who was who happened to be because Carmelita's hands were colored orange, like her own fur, and Penelope's hands were lavender colored. Not a few moments later Murray, looking sad that he couldn't do something like this in this time period, moved out of the way and let the ladies enter the small chamber on the other side of the safe house, where not a few moments later they came back out wearing the revealing outfit that was associated with what they were doing. Sly could tell that the magic that Diz had poured into the rings also hid Carmelita's cane from view and anything that she and Penelope might have on their person that wasn't from this time period, though once they were done the gang headed out immediately, as they were stressed for time and there was no telling when Miss Decibel would arrive to deliver the documents to her boss.
It didn't take the gang long to reach the lamp shop, where they hid in the entrance of the shop, the ramp between the door and the floor in front of the security door, and they found some guards that were standing in front of the door they needed to get through, to which both Carmelita and Penelope nodded their heads and moved out into the open area, pulling the guards to their area. The ape guards that were in the room were stunned by their beauty, as one of them stared at the pair and struck his friend with a punch to the face before they both walked up to where Carmelita and Penelope were standing, while the third guard joined them, opening the way for the rest of the gang to move towards the door and attempt to open it so they could move forward. The ape guards were vastly interested in what was going on at the moment, focusing solely on the ladies and not on the area around them, to which Murray and the others started messing with the two movable parts of the door, as that appeared to be the only way for them to open the door and move into the unknown area that was waiting for them. After a few minutes of the gang attempting to have their way with the metallic door, however, they finally forced the gears to move and then Murray pried open the door that was standing in their away, allowing them to descend into the depths of the shop and figure out what Le Paradox was hiding down here... and, despite the fact that they came to help him, Salim tapped Sly's shoulder for a moment as Murray held the door open for the others to get moving.
"Sly, I am thinking that I should go no further." Salim said, surprising Sly for a moment, because he would have thought that his ancestor would have wanted to see the end of Miss Decibel and contribute to putting an end to her reign over his time period, but he remained silent as his ancestor continued, "I have passed my greatest wisdom onto you, the rest of my friends of my friends have retired, and I have had enough snakes and scorpions and climbing for three lifetimes. Besides, I was thinking that someone should stay behind and watch over Carmelita and Penelope, in case some of the other, more serious, guards come by to check on the door."
"Thanks Salim," Sly replied, though even as he said that he knew that Carmelita could protect herself and Penelope if something happened, but despite that he nodded his head and backed up towards the door, "We honestly couldn't have gotten this far without you, but you have definitely earned your retirement this time around, so go enjoy it and we'll take care of Miss Decibel and Le Paradox."
"Thank you, I will." Salim said, to which he turned around and stepped into the area that Carmeltia and Penelope were in, intending to watch over them and watch their routine until it was over, before Sly slipped through the open door and let Murray close it, making it seem like it hadn't been opened recently.
On the other side of the door Sly found that the rest of the gang had been standing still as they realized what was in front of them, a hidden cavern, made of modern gadgets and machinery, that contained the massive blimp that belonged to Le Paradox, meaning that their main foe was already in the area and that it was only a matter of time until Miss Decibel came to deliver the forged documents to her boss.
"This is more than what Penelope and I were expecting." Bentley stated, though part of what they were seeing made sense, as the one thing they hadn't seen in this time period was Le Paradox's blimp, and this answered the question that he had been thinking about the entire time they had been in this time period, "An underground docking station for Le Paradox's blimp... no wonder we haven't see it floating around the sky yet."
"What's the plan Bentley?" Gilda asked, because she had the feeling that the door being opened would have set off an alarm of some kind, but at the same time she wanted to see what Bentley had in mind for what they had discovered, who was currently looking around the area that they were in and was studying what machines were near them.
"Well, first we need something to distract those guards so I can get into that control room," Bentley said, to which he deployed his RC Car, which had been modified to look like a large mouse that would entice any and all guards to chase after it, while at the same time Murray groaned, as he had been hoping for an outfit or something that was like what Carmelita and Penelope were wearing.
Bentley drove the RC Car under the laser wall in front of them and directed it towards the area that the pair of guards were standing in, who immediately noticed that the RC Car was there and chased after it, allowing Bentley to direct them over to the other side of the chamber they were in and slip into the vent that was there. While the guards were busy with the opening the device had gone through Bentley moved through the decent sized vent and started smashing his way thought the various obstacles that were in his way, before smashing through the device that powering the laser wall in front of them and allowed them to move forward, even if the main laser blocking the way to the blimp was still up. With the way open Bentley headed over to the control room as Sly and the rest of the gang stood near the second laser wall, as all of them knew that he'd be able to overcome the security in the terminal in no time at all, and Bentley smiled as he hacked into the terminal, before dropping the laser wall and allowed them to continue onward. When the gang crossed over the threshold, however, the laser wall came back up and trapped all of them on the other side, where two laser turrets came online and targeted them, but Diz stepped forward and used his chaotic magic to twist them into clusters of cotton candy that floated off into the air... while the rat guards that came at them were beaten senseless by Murray, who was overjoyed to have something interesting to do at last.
When the turrets were destroyed, and the guards were taken out, the laser wall fell apart and Bentley joined them, just in time to watch as the blimp moved up from where it was resting and allowed them to see Le Paradox, who turned and faced the group as they stared at him.
"Ah, the infamous Cooper Gang. One step behind me, as usual." Le Paradox stated, though he sounded very happy that they were falling behind him and that he seemed to be getting ready to take over the future that they had come from, to which he smiled at them, "May you never catch up with me. And you, Cooper, you never seem to realize that you've lost this battle of ours."
"Who says we're losing?" Sly asked, because he found it humorous that Le Paradox thought that he was winning this dangerous game that they were playing, especially since the fate of the future was at stake, and the reason he thought that way was because of his siblings and their magical power.
"Oh no?" Le Paradox inquired, to which he looked behind the Cooper Gang for a moment, which was when they all turned around and found Miss Decibel standing behind them, with a knocked out Salim held in her right hand, "Bonjour, my large friend! What took you so long?"
"Hello Cyrille." Miss Decibel said, waving her hand for a moment while she called Le Paradox by his first name, which was something that none of them had really done since they focused on his more infamous name, before she lifted Salim for a moment, "I found this filthy, old scoundrel unconscious outside. You said you needed him, right?"
"No, he needed his cane." a voice replied, to which Neyla stepped out of wherever she had been hiding and held out the cane that Salim had been holding not even a few minutes ago, something that she tossed through the open window that Le Paradox opened and let him grab it, before she looked down at the gang, "Hello Cooper, surprised to see me again, after all these years?"
"Neyla. I thought we were done with you when Secretary Sen arrested you." Sly stated, though even as he said that Miss Decibel tossed Salim to the side like he was trash as she rushed towards the blimp, which was starting to make it's exit to the future.
"Foolish Cooper, you'll never be rid of me." Neyla replied, to which she jumped through the window and landed near Le Paradox, who closed the window and kept his smile on his face as a pair of chairs revealed themselves, with both Carmelita and Penelope tied down to them, "And now I have old Ironsides and the weak mouse that betrayed us. When we get to the future I'll punish the both of them for what they had done, and then I'll find you and deliver the same fate to you, if you decide to come after us."
"Farewell Cooper!" Le Paradox shouted, to which the blimp continued to move towards the opening ceiling that was above them, though at the same time his words indicated that the time for talking was over, which was why Sly, Derpy, Gilda, and Diz followed after Miss Decibel, who was going to be left behind as well.
Miss Decibel was furious with all of them, as she believed that them making their move now was responsible for Le Paradox's decision to leave her behind, and she declared that she was going to orchestrate their demise, before flying off to the platform behind her, by blowing wind out of her trunk and her trumpet. At the same time this was sad for her, as this battle was going to be incredibly one sided, because with the open ceiling Gilda had access to the wind that was outside the building they were in and Derpy could command the lightning in the sky to aid her, though she couldn't target the blimp without hurting Carmelita and Penelope. Sly, not having the ability to fly, used the musical strings that came from Miss Decibel's trumpet to reach their foe, while at the same time his siblings spread their wings and flew over to where their foe was standing, using their powers to slice through the music notes that were coming at them, indicating that the elephant wanted to crush them quickly, so she could attempt to get back on the blimp. When they landed near each other and struck her, however, Miss Decibel retreated and forced them to chase after her again, but as they followed after her they found that they were able to overcome her obstacles and quickly found where she was hiding so they could continue the battle they were going through.
Eventually they followed Miss Decibel back to the top of the ship, where the siblings engaged the large elephant as they avoided the musical notes that she was sending their way, even slicing through them with their magical powers at times, while looking for a way to get at their target. While all of this happened Le Paradox and Neyla didn't seem to care about her at all, because they kept moving closer and closer to the part where they could warp to the future once more, only this time the future would be ruined if they failed to get the forged documents. Sly, despite the fact that it was his siblings that were taking care of Miss Decibel's powers, had the honor of hitting the elephant on her head with his cane, eventually weakening her to the point where she collapsed on the floor of the arena that they were fighting on, but since that happened Le Paradox closed the platform that they were standing on and forced them to remove themselves, including grabbing Miss Decibel with Diz's magic, before they were crushed. As the gang glanced at the blimp, however, Le Paradox engaged the warp feature and returned to the future, leaving them to realize that their task to stop the papers from reaching their destination had failed, but that filled them all with determination as they marched back to the safe house and set their van for the future as well.
They might not have stopped Le Paradox from getting his papers to the future, but at the same time he had taken both Carmelita and Penelope from them, which meant that they had one more mission to go on, and this time it not only involved trying to save their friends and family, but also the entire future from their foe.
As the gang headed back to the future, so they could finish their battle with Le Paradox, Bentley managed to finally fish up a lot of dirt on their foe, though what interested them all immediately was the fact that the skunk that was trying to take over the future also came from a family of thieves, one that been the rivals of Sly's family. After reading through the Thievius Raccoonus, for their training over the years, they found that Sly's father had been able to go on a few heists before he was brought down, and it was the theft of the World's Largest Diamond that they were most interested in, as it turned out that both Sly's father and Le Paradox's father had been planning the same heist at the same time, only Le Paradox's father had been planning on framing Sly's father for the deed. Fortunately Le Paradox's father was too slow, as Sly's father got the diamond before his rival could, which ended in Le Paradox's father getting himself caught and thrown in jail, which prevented their current foe from getting the criminal education that he would have given him, but even then he tried to do some heists and ended up in jail himself. Interestingly enough that was where Le Paradox got his education in the criminal world and he maintained his connections with those he met in prison, forming the shadowy syndicate that they had been fighting the entire time, and since he blamed the Coopers for his problems it made sense that he'd try and tackle their ancestors... but, at the same time, the gang knew that they needed to bring together all their skills so they could break through the blimp's defenses, rescue Carmelita and Penelope, and then defeat both Le Paradox and Neyla.
When they arrived in the future, outside the museum that they had taken the dagger from, they found a shocking sight, because where the gang expected to find Le Paradox's face everywhere, plastered on everything and anything that he could have put his face on, rather they found statues of Neyla, in her normal state and accompanied with a number of flags that bared the emblem of the Klaww Gang, set up along the streets and roads of Paris.
"What in the world is going on?" Sly asked, because based on what they knew, and had recently discovered when they researched Le Paradox's background, they had been expecting to find that the skunk had done something, but instead it turned out that Neyla had done something instead, which worried him even more.
"It looks like Neyla's taken control of the future." Bentley replied, though at the same time he directed Murray to take them back to their safe house, where they had been planning the museum heist earlier, before he opened his terminal and started crunching some numbers, "This might be a shot in the dark, but since Neyla is known to betray those she works with, where her prime examples are us, Carmelita, and all of Interpol, I think she might have lashed out at Le Paradox and taken the papers for herself. How she was able to modify them so quickly, so she could do all of this, I have no idea, but something tells me that we'll have to ask Secretary Sen what happened before we move forward."
Gilda and Derpy glanced at each other, as this screamed that something was wrong with their time period, and Murray carefully moved them to the area that their safe house was located in, as there were rat guards patrolling the area, though whether they worked for Le Paradox or if they followed Neyla's orders the gang had no idea. When Murray came to a stop, and made sure that the van was hidden in the parking area that was next to the building, the gang headed into the safe house and closed the door behind them, where Bentley rushed to set things up so they could talk with Secretary Sen and figure out what in the world was going on. While he did that the rest of the gang made sure that the safe house was secure, especially since Diz was making sure the magical wards that were in place were still there, and after a few minutes they were certain that Neyla and her allies hadn't figured out where their safe house was located, meaning that they could speak in private without having to worry about their foe finding out what they were doing. Not a few seconds later Bentley, learning that they were ready to go, pulled out the communicator that connected to Secretary Sen's place and hooked it up once more, to which everyone took a step back and let him activate the device, which caused the green light to spring out of the device as the image of Secretary Sen appeared before them.
They were pleased to find that nothing seemed to have changed in the area that Secretary Sen was in, from what little they could see anyway, but at the same time they had to be serious, as this next battle would decide the fate of the future, especially since they had no idea what Neyla was up to this time around.
"Bentley, it is good to hear from you and the rest of the gang again," Secretary Sen said, though at the same time he noticed that two people seemed to be missing from the group, showing how observant he was at times like this, along with showing that he was entirely alone at the moment, "I can see that Carmelita and Miss Penelope are missing, though it makes sense considering that they are the unwilling prisoners aboard Le Paradox's blimp... or I guess I should say Neyla's command center, since she's taken over all of his operations so far."
"So, Neyla played Le Paradox as well... that's actually not much of a surprise, considering her past." Sly commented, to which the gang nodded their heads, as they understood that Neyla must have been planning this since the moment she was sprung from prison and noticed that Arpeggio had been sprung as well, before he stared at the image, "Secretary Sen, can you tell us where on the blimp she's holding Carmelita and Penelope? Once we ensure their safety, and add their skills to our own, we can assault the rest of the blimp, mess with Le Paradox's time machine, and maybe bring an end to this madness before it gets even worse."
"Sadly, I have no idea where they might be located." Secretary Sen stated, though he knew that the gang wasn't in the mood for news like this, not when the foe that they had been fighting against had been replaced by someone from their past, but at the same time they were the only ones that could overcome what was happening, "But, if my prior experiences have taught me anything, I would suggest striking at the back at the blimp, but I would also suggest that you be careful at the same time, as she might have a trap waiting for you guys. At the same time, and this is something that not many would suggest, I would suggest that you go back and get the ancestors that you helped, as they might be able to assist you in some manner when you're inside the blimp."
"That... is a good idea." Bentley said, as he had been entertaining the idea of them getting more reinforcements for the assault on Neyla's location, but at the same time calling the Cooper Ancestors to the future would allow them to assist them and get their canes back, maybe even to the point where they corrected the various problems that Le Paradox created by sending his lieutenants back into the past, "It will take a few minutes for Murray and I to travel to the various time periods and explain ourselves to the ancestors that we helped out, though I knew a few of them would be happy to assist us, since we helped get their lives back in order after Le Paradox's men showed up. Secretary Sen, can you tell us what happened the moment that blimp returned to this time period?"
"I was working with the remaining Inspectors and Directors, to gather the manpower to take down Le Paradox the moment he returned and to seize everything that he owned," Secretary Sen replied, though his tone immediately told the gang that no one liked what happened next, especially since it appeared that Neyla had outsmarted them in some manner, before he continued speaking, "When the blimp arrived, however, what we discovered was Neyla walking down the ramp, acting like she owned the world, and before we could do anything she showed us some documents that we took to the experts, who seemed to think that they were either the real deal or that they were incredible forgeries. A few of them must have been in Le Paradox's payroll, because they swiftly declared that the documents were real, despite their surprise that it was Neyla getting to 'inherit' the world, and soon we found that we couldn't touch her at all, so she got away with everything she's done and has total control over the world. We're not entirely sure what happened, but it seems like she did something to both Le Paradox and Miss Decibel, though despite her new position as Queen of the World she prefers to rule from Le Paradox's blimp, meaning that there's something special about it, something that we just don't understand at the moment."
"The Cooper Canes." Derpy spoke up, causing the gang and Secretary Sen to turn towards her, but even as they did that Bentley seemed to understand what was going on with her statement, "Maybe Le Paradox, since he was the first one to create the plan that was taken over by Neyla, needed something from the past to complete his changes to the future, and since he was messing with the members of the Cooper Clan, and their history, it makes sense that he would take their canes to tie down whatever changes he wanted to make. Here's a shot in the dark, but what if we invade the blimp, save both Carmelita and Penelope, and then tear the canes from whatever machine their attached to? We might have a chance to reverse what Le Paradox and Neyla have gone to the past and the future, though if we attack the blimp we need to be ready for anything and everything that we might find aboard it... especially since we can't use magic there, for fear of damaging the time machine, since we don't now how big Le Paradox's version of it actually is, and causing permanent damage to the various time periods that are involved with this mess."
"And we shouldn't forget about Neyla," Gilda added, to which she flexed her fingers for a moment, as she could imagine what was going to happen when they found the villain that was taking over Le Paradox's plan to take control of the future, "We'll have to draw her out of the blimp, so we can use our powers against her, but at the same time we'll need to be cautious, because she knows techniques that belong to the Cooper Clan and might have made sure that her body is reinforced against our unique abilities."
I'll take care of Neyla. a voice said, to which the gang turned their heads towards Clockwerk, who was currently staring at the blimp as if he was studying the fortress of their enemy and thinking about what he was going to do the moment he was aboard the blimp, She thinks her new body is indestructible, that it's the most dangerous thing in the world, but if her body was constructed by Arpeggio, like I think it was, that means that she's likely weak to magic, while electricity might be taken care of, but there's one thing that I have that she doesn't have, and that's the regeneration feature that I have installed in my body. Since she likely thinks that she's the newest danger to the Cooper Clan, my replacement if you will, it seems only natural for me to take the fight to her and tear her down.
"Then we'll have you and Sly enter through the back end of the blimp," Bentley stated, as he brought up an image of the blimp, a live one that was at the museum, and discovered that there was a place where someone could slip into the large floating fortress, "While you two rescue Carmelita and Penelope, and put down a beacon that I happened to create in the event that something like this happens, we'll bring the van into the blimp and take out the time machine, before it can be used against the timeline again. From there... well, we'll have to see what happens before we make plans for the end battle with Neyla."
With the basic plan set in stone, despite how terrible it sounded, Sly and Clockwerk stood near the van as Bentley and the others climbed into the vehicle as Murray powered it up, before they burst backwards in time, to the period of Rioichi, allowing the duo to make their way to the museum. When they arrived at their destination they found that the rope that Sly would have to climb was unguarded, screaming that it was a trap, but at the same time it was the only way for them to get into blimp, so Sly went up first and Clockwerk used his miniature body to slip in undetected. Clockwerk moved his head a little, knowing that this had to be a problem, and Sly noticed his wife and Penelope that were wrapped up in the chairs that were nearby, to which he moved forward and purposely triggered whatever trap Neyla had in store for them. A few seconds later, as he approached the chairs, a light turned on and Neyla, in her transformed state, appeared nearby and smacked him in the back, knocking the cane from his grasp, something that she grabbed and crackled as she jumped away from where Sly was standing.
"Neyla! Give me my cane, release my wife and our friend, and surrender the forged papers to me!" Sly stated, though at the same time he tugged at the ropes around Carmelita and Penelope and freed them, to which they stood behind him as he faced their enemy.
"Sorry Cooper, but I need this to stabilize the changes to this time period." Neyla replied, though at the same time she started to laugh as the doors opened and she started to walk away from where Sly was standing, but she stopped for a moment and turned back towards Sly with a wicked smile, "You know, at this moment Clockwerk would have said something about empathy being the downfall of your clan, and he'd be right. Too bad he didn't get a chance to see the end of the Cooper Clan, because once I stabilize my rule over this world I'm going to eradicate you, your pathetic wife, and then end your children as well... and once they're dead I'll keep moving forward until everyone that joined the Cooper Clan is dead! And then I'll erase everything related to the Cooper Clan, so your legacy is forgotten and you fade into oblivion, so just sit tight and I'll be back to deal with you."
Clockwerk growled as Neyla retreated from the room that Sly, Carmelita, and Penelope were in, as he expanded into his true terrifying form and tapped his talons against the floor, as he already had enough reason to want Neyla's downfall, but now, upon hearing that she wanted to exterminate and erase the Cooper Legacy, something that he was proud to be a part of, he was going to tear her apart... and this time around he was going to do everything in his power to save this future and those he considered his friends.
"You know, there's not many people I hate in this world, but Neyla's at the top of the list." Penelope said, though at the same time she rubbed her arms for a moment, since she had been tied down with ropes rubbing against her arms for some time, before she turned towards Sly and Clockwerk, "So, what's the plan?"
"Bentley and the others are coming here with my Ancestors, to let them take their canes back," Sly explained, to which he made sure that both Carmelita and Penelope were okay, since they were his biggest concern at the moment, before he slipped out the device that he had been given and put it some distance behind where they were gathered, giving the others enough room for what Bentley had in mind, "I guess the canes might have been installed in some sort of security or puzzle system that requires my Ancestors to retrieve their canes themselves, which is why Bentley decided to call them in, despite the fact that we don't actually need their assistance. Once we get to where Neyla is putting my cane, which has to be the front of the blimp, we're going to stand back and let the big guy take care of business, especially since it seems that Arpeggio might have did his best to replicate what he knew about Clockwerk's body when he built Neyla's new body."
Penelope nodded her head, as Bentley's plan seemed like the correct path they could take at the moment and she didn't see any problems with what Sly had told her, before she turned her gaze towards Clockwerk, who was standing nearby in his larger, and more terrifying, form. She knew that she didn't have very many occasions to watch him use this form, since he preferred to be in his miniature form for scouting and other things, but at the same time she was still amazed by what he had been able to do, to forge a lasting body that would stand the test of time, and still be the only one that held the secret to doing just that. At the same time she had to admit that his body, despite being only one animal, was still more terrifying than the chimera creature that Neyla had become, which might have been a reason that he had been hiding it for a long time, in addition to not wanting to scare Daniel and Elizabeth, in case they ever spotted him. Despite the fact that they were just standing around, and studying the structures that were around them, she also knew that Carmelita was itching to get into the action as well, which made sense considering that Neyla had threatened her entire family when she was talking to Sly a few moments ago... and she felt sorry for Neyla, because there was no way that she was going to win the battle that was coming her way, regardless of what the metallic chimera believed.
Before she could consider what else she needed to think about, especially since she had helped build this blimp against her will, she and the others heard the sound of something slipping through the time stream, to which she turned around with the others and watched as the van came to a stop behind them. Not a few seconds later Murray climbed out of the van and opened the door, to which Rioichi, Tennessee, Bob, Galleth, and Salim stepped onto the floor and looked at the group that was in front of them, before Derpy, Gilda, Diz, and Bentley did the same thing. Despite the situation both Penelope and Bentley embraced for a moment, since they had been worried about each other after Neyla had knocked both her and Carmelita out, before they stood side by side as they turned towards the door that was their ticket to locating Neyla and the stolen canes that Le Paradox had been collecting.
"Okay, you all know why you're here." Bentley said, talking to the five Coopers that he and the others had gone through the effort to collect, while at the same time his gang and friends stood there and waited for he to finish talking before they moved forward, "We have to find your canes and then get you back to where each of you belong. If we don't get those canes back we won't be able to repair the damage that Le Paradox and his allies have caused to the time periods that you come from. Rioichi, it seems that your cane is in this room."
"It should be in this room, considering that it's needed to stabilize the changes to this time period," Penelope said, as she had put some time and effort into making sure that the blimp was everything that Le Paradox asked for, while at the same time making sure that there was a way to safely collapse the Time Tunnel that had been formed when she was installing the larger time machine into the blimp, "but if we took out the canes from where they're resting, and send them back with their owners, we should be able to undo the changes that happened to their time periods and weaken the changes on our future. Of course there's always the chance that some of the changes might not disappear when the canes are sent back to their time period, but I figured that I might as well tell you what the chances are before we moved forward and removed one of the stolen canes."
Clockwerk, despite not being in the mood to do anything other than tear Neyla apart, turned his head slightly as Rioichi moved forward and used both his Ninja Spire Jump and his special technique to move through the obstacles that were in front of him, allowing him to reach his cane and remove it from it's case. As that happened the door that they had to go through opened and the rat guards started to move into the room that they were in, but then they stopped when they noticed that Clockwerk was blocking their way, where the ancient owl swung his right wing and knocked them out of his way, allowing him to march towards the next room as the Coopers followed right behind him. Once they were in the next room Rioichi jumped onto the obstacle that was in front of him and ascended towards the point where Bob and Salim's canes were located, though Bentley determined that they needed to get Bob's cane first, before moving onto the cane that Salim had been carrying earlier. Rioichi found that the obstacles that were in front of him were rather easy for someone like him, as he was able to get up to where the first cane was located, though when he returned Bob's cane to him Bentley found that the temporal anomaly was correcting itself, exactly what he and Penelope had been expecting the moment they came to this area, and Rioichi bowed his head before disappearing, heading back to his time period.
Bob, on the other hand, happily made his way through the climbable obstacles that were in front of him and avoided the icy vents that were in his way, impressing the ancestors that were standing beside Bentley and the others, before he reached where Salim's cane was resting and tossed it to it's owner, before bowing his head as he was taken back to his prehistoric time period that he had come from.
When the second door opened, and allowed them to move forward once more, Clockwerk was the first one to move and smashed his way through the rat guards that happened to be on the other side of the door, just like he did with the first group of guards, before he and the others came to a room containing the remaining two canes that they had come to retrieve so they could correct the time periods. Salim, being the only one that had his cane at the moment, moaned as he moved forward and climbed his way through the obstacles that were in front of him, while at the same time Sly and his family realized that Penelope had built the rooms with the ancestors in mind, to ensure that the canes could be recovered and restore the damage that Le Paradox had done. When Salim recovered Galleth's cane, and dropped it down to them, he looked tired and bowed his head as he was taken back to his time period, allowing them to shift their gaze towards the area that Galleth was moving towards, so he could get up to where Tennessee's cane was located. As Galleth made his way towards his destination he smashed through the power sources that were powering the lasers that were blocking his advancement, turning them off once their generators were taken out, before reaching the cane that he had come to retrieve, where a smile returned to his face as he tossed Tennessee his cane and returned to his time period.
As the third door opened, and more rat guards poured out of it, Clockwerk glared at them and his sheer gaze forced them all out of the way, showing that Le Paradox's minions understood that he was dangerous and that they didn't stand a chance against him, before they arrived at a chamber that was designed for Tennessee to get through, who happily stepped forward and started shooting his way through the obstacles that were in his way. When they reached the end of the line, however, Tennessee opened the trio of metallic doors that were in their way and then stood to the side, where he nodded his head as the ancient owl moved forward and entered the chamber that Neyla was in, before Tennessee returned to his time period as well.
"It was too easy to get this final cane and stabilize the changes to this time period," Neyla commented, her new tail tapping the floor that she was standing on as she slipped Sly's cane into the slot that had been provided for it, though her tone revealed that she was actually pleased by what had happened, "From this point forward I will be the Queen of this world and no one will be able to stand against me..."
That is where you are wrong, Neyla. Clockwerk replied, to which he stepped out of the shadows and stood near the controls for the massive time tunnel that was near the other metallic creature, where he watched as Neyla turned and looked at him the moment she heard his voice, You might think no one would dare to face the ruler of the world, but you seem to have forgotten that I have always existed in the shadows of the Cooper Clan, always watching their moves and moving against them when I deemed the time to be right. You just declared that you were going to kill both Sly and Carmelita, as well as their innocent kids, and then exterminate their entire family history, all because you're angry that they beat you and tossed you in jail, yet you never stopped to consider that someone might be watching your movements and growing angry with you.
"Arpeggio told me you died many years ago, when I was arrested." Neyla stated, though she couldn't believe that the ancient owl was still alive, because that meant that there was someone that would stand in her way and try to stop her plans from being fully fulfilled.
He's wrong. Clockwerk said, though at the same time he spread his wings and readied himself, because he knew that talking with someone that wanted to destroy the Cooper Legacy was never going to work, as Neyla seemed dead set on trying to eradicate every Cooper and their history, Come, Neyla, it's time I showed you why I, Clockwerk, am the only metallic being that belongs to the Cooper Legacy, so prepare yourself for the greatest battle of your life.
Before Neyla had a chance to move out of the way Clockwerk crashed into her and knocked her through the glass window that was behind her, forcing them both into the air outside the blimp, which was followed by Clockwerk flapping his wings as he stabilized himself and let Neyla go crashing to the ground. Despite him wishing for a quick end Neyla showed off something else that had been added to her new body, an interior jetpack of sorts that mimicked what was inside Clockwerk's body and came out when he wanted to fly, allowing Neyla to lift back up to where her foe was floating and stared at him for a moment. The two of them stared at each other for a moment, barely moving an inch from where they were currently floating, before Clockwerk snapped open his missile silos and loosed a barrage of small missiles at Neyla, who grinned as she did the same time, allowing their two barrages to collide in the area between them and detonate upon impact. As smoke filled the air the two metallic beings flew through the air and clashed with each other, talons meeting claws as Clockwerk sought out a hold that he could use to break Neyla's defenses, while at the same time Neyla attempted to do the same thing as she tried to dig into his wings.
Clockwerk beat his wings and pushed Neyla away from him, where he loosed a series of rings into the air that were just like the ones he used in the past, where he was battling Sly above a volcano and the siblings in the area around Arpeggio's blimp, but all Neyla did was loose a laser and sliced them in half. Despite that happening, and him avoiding the attack like it was nothing, Clockwerk used the halves of the rings to attack his foe, which exploded when they reached his target, but for the most part the metallic chimera emerged unharmed for the most part. He realized that this was how Neyla's body was supposed to operate, that she was supposed to be mimicking his own body, but at the same time he had more tricks up his sleeves as he started to open another silo and fired some more missiles at his foe, where they exploded as Neyla roared. It was an interesting tactic, one that he hadn't considered when he started this fight with her, but at the same time the two of them rushed back at each other and continued their battle, where Neyla's claws grazed Clockwerk's body and his talons did the same thing to her, forcing them away from each other.
Of course what Neyla wasn't expecting was a lightning bolt to hit the back of her body, knocking her forward a little, but when she glanced back at the blimp and found Derpy frowning at her as lightning danced around her arms, before Gilda floated down with the wind doing the same thing and Diz had his aura gathering around his form.
"YOU!" Neyla shouted, as she hated the Coopers with a passion, maybe on the same level as Clockwerk did, and her hatred extended towards the trio that followed Sly around, the three magic users that could dominate other foes with just a wave of their hand if they so desired, "I despise the three of you!"
"Come and get us, Neyla." Diz called out, to which he and his sisters burst into the air and separated from each other, choosing to flank their target from different angles while making sure to avoid the area that Clockwerk was in, who grinned as he continued the fight as well.
Clockwerk, despite the danger that they were in, found that Neyla's body truly like his own, as she didn't have any resistance to magic based attacks, meaning that the lightning scratched her body, the wind parted sections of her arms and legs, and Diz's chaotic energies blasted her from whatever direction they were coming from. It presented the perfect opportunity for him to act, as the moment the three siblings combined their powers together a hole was punched into her defenses, not to mention that parts of her body were cracked and broken under the weight of their magical attacks, before he flew into the danger zone and swung at Neyla's chest. A few moments later Clockwerk appeared in the air near Derpy, where he was holding a crystal that seemed to glow with a sinister red light inside it, to which he crushed the gem into a thousand pieces and destroyed Neyla's soul, causing the ruined body to fall out of the sky and crash into the ground in front of the museum. With the deed done, and their foe defeated, the four of them flew over to the building that the others were standing on and smiled, despite the fact that the blimp was moving higher into the air, and they even found that the van was on the ground as well, meaning that Bentley and Penelope must have succeeded in their mission and disabled the time machine.
Of course they were wrong to think that this was the end of their battle, as a few moments after the blimp moved into the air Neyla's corpse moved into the air, somehow since it wasn't powered by anything, and flew into the flying vehicle, where the entire blimp exploded not even a few seconds later... and, in the aftermath, a black swirling void appeared in the air where Le Paradox's blimp had been, worrying both Bentley and Penelope as well.
"Neyla must have messed with the time tunnel... this is bad, really bad." Penelope said, because this was something that she had only worked on in theory, meaning that Le Paradox was smart enough to figure out her notes and built one of the most dangerous devices in the world.
"Its much worse than you think it is." a familiar voice said, to which Neyla, in her metallic chimera form, floated down and grinned at them, where they noticed that the hole that Clockwerk had put in the body was no longer there, as if it had never existed in the first place.
"Too true." a second voice added, to which the gang watched as a second metal chimera floated down to where they were standing, joining the first Neyla in the fact that her appearance was exactly the same, "With the time tunnel now open I can generate a number of clones to destroy all of you with, and this time you have no way to end the tide of Neyla's that are coming to destroy you."
"Wow, what a sore loser." Penelope commented, though at the same time she glanced over to Diz for a moment, as his power was more than enough to stall something like this while she and Bentley tried to figure out how to close the time tunnel, before it ruined the world, "Diz, I think you and your sisters will need your full power to stall them."
Diz nodded as he slipped into his full powered state, allowing him to manipulate the area around him in a more refined manner and started to build a gate of some kind around the hole, but even as he did that more smaller holes started to form in the air near them as more Neyla's started to pour into the area they were in. Derpy and Gilda used their own powers to blast a number of them out of the air, destroying their metallic bodies in the process, but for every one they destroyed two more took their place, and the same thing held true for Clockwerk, who was flying around the area and attacking a different group of enemies. Sly and Carmelita, who couldn't do much, stood there and watched as their family fought their new foe, while at the same time Bentley worked to figure a solution out to the problem that had happened in the air, because if they could close the time tunnels they could decrease the number of enemies that needed to be taken out and eventually turn the battle in their favor. Penelope, since they had gone back to get Galleth, had something interesting inside the van, as a few moments later she stepped out in her Black Knight armor and tapped one of the buttons inside it, where it became a slimmer version of herself, dressed as a knight and wielding a blade, before she flew into the air and started slicing through the clones that were coming at her, to give Bentley time to close the time tunnels before they got even worse than they already were.
Of course several of the clones noticed Bentley working on finding a solution and decided to attack him, but then they slammed into a magical barrier that was unlike anything that the three magic users he knew could generate, though as he looked at it he realized that it looked similar for a moment.
"It seems that you could use some assistance." a voice said, to which Merlin, who had been wearing a modern suit that melted away to reveal his sorcerer attire, stepped out of the shadows near Bentley and looked at the enemies that were now staring at him, "Especially against an evil that is as great as this one is."
Merlin summoned his staff and waved it, where lances made of magical energy burst out and struck the clones that were coming their way, destroying them in bursts of flames, though instead of questioning what was even happening Bentley worked on finding the solution as the gang worked to stop the clones, even those that were bound to the ground like Sly was. Despite his calculations, however, Bentley was discovering that there wasn't much they could do with the technology they had, meaning that closing the time tunnels was going to be next to impossible at the rate they were going, even though he refused to believe that there wasn't a way to stop them from spreading. He still had no idea how Neyla was able to get her body to react in such a way and cause the original time tunnel to explode in such a way, but at the rate things were going the timeline would collapse and the world would be swallowed in some manner, all because one person tried to hate the Cooper Gang as much as Clockwerk once did. Even with four magic users and Clockwerk tearing into the army of clones that were pouring out of the holes in reality, which were increasing in number as the minutes went by, the tide was turning towards the army of Neyla's that was gathering to overpower and destroy them.
That was, however, until something interesting happened, as the holes in reality started to close on their own, while the Neyla's that came from the started to disappear as suddenly as they had come into this time period, before only the main time tunnel and Neyla remained... and then the final hole closed as suddenly as the rest had, restoring stability to the timeline, and while they were all stunned Clockwerk rushed at the remaining Neyla and destroyed her core as well, dropping her body like the rest of them.
"Um... what just happened?" Sly asked, because part of this was confusing, that the time holes would have opened in such a large number and then suddenly close like something else had been happening to the area they were in, but he was happy to see that Neyla's plans had been stopped.
"Yes! Another tear in the fabric of reality averted!" a voice happily said, to which Sly and the others looked over at the top of the museum and found Le Paradox tied up by what could only be described as a humanoid robot of some kind that had a rather large head piece and looked a little evil, despite his words indicating that he must have done something to all the time holes that had been in the air a few minutes ago.
"I don't know... but I think he does know." Bentley stated, though as he said that Diz and the others returned to where he and the rest of the gang were standing, where Diz reverted to his base state, before they stared at the robotic stranger that was doing some sort of victory pose towards the sky and bragging about something, "This will be interesting."
Derpy, Gilda, and Diz looked at each other for a moment, as they weren't sure if this was going to be what Bentley said it was, but he seemed convinced that this was a good sign for them, and the metallic creature had somehow saved Le Paradox as well, so he could suffer for his crimes, so they guessed they could see what side the being was on... but they were sure that their worlds were about to change, and all of them were eager to see what changes this meeting ended up bringing to their lives.
Sly, Carmelita, and the rest of the gang stood on the roof of the building that they had been standing on while the entire fight with Neyla took place, and witnessed the closing of the time holes, before each of them made their way to the museum's courtyard. The reason behind that decision was because the robot grabbed the bound Le Paradox and jumped down to where several of the Neyla clones had crashed into the ground, which were starting to fade away now that the anomaly had been corrected, and they were eager to see what he was and if he was an ally. Many of them were cautious, because the robot's appearance suggested that he was evil and had only come to take out the Time Tunnel, along with taking out Le Paradox since it was his fault that the anomaly had been opened in the first place, but the gang remained quiet as they approached their destination. At the same time Clockwerk studied the humanoid creature that was approaching them, finding that he had a number of powerful weapons hidden in parts of his body, meaning that if a fight broke out he'd be quick to pull them out, but for now they were going to remain peaceful and see if the robot did the same. Clockwerk also believed that the robot's systems might be vulnerable to magic, as there was no indication one way or the other, meaning they might have the advantage, but for now they might have the advantage over the robot, and he knew that all of their magic users had to be thinking the same thing.
A few moments later the gang stopped near the entrance of the courtyard and were surprised to find that the robot did the same thing as well, indicating that he might actually be here to talk and not to fight, though that was followed by the robot extending a hand towards them, one that Sly grasp and shook, hoping that this meant that they were going to talk before figuring out what just happened.
"Greetings citizens, I am Dr. Nefarious, personal assistant of Lord Orvus, the God of Time, and part time member of the Heroes Association," the robot declared, surprising the gang once more, as his voice sounded like it had been made to be evil, even though there was a hint of good in his voice, before he stopped shaking Sly's hand and waved his in a manner that dismissed one of the things he had just said, "and please, don't judge me because of my name. Long story short, I used to be one of the greatest supervillains in the universe, but after a few run-ins with Sunset Shimmer, and nearly dying during one of those encounters, I decided to change my life for the better, starting with helping defeat any of the remaining supervillains and dealing with any time anomalies that show up."
"So does that mean you're actually a good guy?" Murray asked, as he wanted to make sure that this guy wasn't lying to them, even though he dealt with the holes that Neyla's clones had been coming through earlier, and if he was trying to fool all of them he'd gladly smash him into scrap.
"That's correct." Nefarious replied, to which he looked over the group that was in front of him and pointed to three individuals, which happened to be Bentley, Penelope, and Clockwerk, who were surprised that he was even interested in the three of them, "Let me guess, the three of you are the smartest individuals in this group?"
"To some degree." Bentley answered, where he beckoned to himself for a moment, before doing the same thing to Penelope and Clockwerk, and then he made sure to wave his hand at the rest of the gang as well, since he felt that he might as well introduce everyone in their gang to the humanoid robot, "My name is Bentley, and this is my girlfriend Penelope and our friend Clockwerk. You've already talked to Murray, or 'The Murray' as he likes to call himself these days, so that just leaves the living members of the Cooper Clan; Sly, Carmelita, Derpy, Gilda, and Diz Cooper. Oh, and this is our latest acquaintance, Merlin."
"Oh, and don't forget Elizabeth and Daniel Cooper, Sly and Carmelita's children." Penelope added, as it was hard for her to forget about them, since part of the reason she had joined Le Paradox was to keep them safe from harm, even though that turned out to be a lie, "They're with Secretary Sen, one of the ruling leaders of Interpol, who should be on their way to arrest Le Paradox now that his schemes are well known to them."
"Good, then we can deposit this villain and be on our way," Nefarious commented, to which he jerked his thumb towards Le Paradox, who was trying in vain to get the rope off of him, before he grew serious and looked at the gang once more, "Trust me on this, messing with time like he was is a big no-no, so he should receive a life sentence behind bars and have all of his belongings confiscated, but that's just my opinion, especially since I don't know the legal system of this planet and I'm not about to spend a few hours learning it. Besides, I'm more interested in the four magic users that are standing behind you, and you said that two of them were called 'Gilda' and 'Derpy', right?"
"Yeah, that's us." Gilda stated, to which she and Derpy stepped forward, because if the robot was going to signal them out like this than she was going to be ready for a fight, though both she and her sister kept their powers hidden, so they would have the element of surprise.
"One of you possesses the power over lightning, while the other has the same control over the wind itself." Nefarious said, noticing that both of the girls seemed surprised by what he had said, to which he jerked his thumb to the area that the Time Tunnel had been sitting in, "Like I said, I work with the God of Time, so I had some time to see just what sort of powers you two, on your own, possess, and that's not counting the chaotic powers that your brother, and sometimes sister, has control over... and Merlin's mastery over many magical elements."
"Wait, so you were watching us the entire time?" Sly asked, because for one thing that sounded like he was invading their privacy, while at the same time he could have easily come and stopped this whole thing from happening, "Why didn't you stop Le Paradox when he first revealed his hand?"
"Look, Orvus has a strict policy about when we're allowed to assist people in a situation like this," Nefarious said, and he understood why the God of Time had these rules to begin with, as he had seen several of the possible endings of the universe that were related to time and he didn't want any of them to happen, "luckily your other robotic friend did something to that Time Tunnel and created all those Time Holes, otherwise you would have been left trying to figure out how to close the original Time Tunnel in the blimp for the next few years. I simply saved you some time and stopped an anomaly from consuming your planet... Sunset would have been angry with me if I let a planet be destroyed in such a manner, especially with three, possibly even four, Equestrians residing on this planet."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Diz asked, because part of that statement sounded like he wasn't included in the count at first and then had been added in moments later, something that would annoy him if that was what Nefarious had been attempting to hide from them, before he thought of something else, "And whose this 'Sunset Shimmer' that you mentioned a few times?"
"Sunset is, well, not someone you want to piss off," Nefarious stated, though the gang could tell that he was having trouble actually telling them anything important, meaning that there had to be a strict rule about telling people who this one person was, "Look, you'll get the whole story later, but first we need to make sure that these two get their memories restored and ensure that the process doesn't mess anything up, because there's a machine that I, along with the other beings that assist Lord Orvus, built to overcome the memory erasure and restore what's missing. There's a seal or something that's been placed on the two of them, keeping those memories hidden and unable to be tapped into, and this machine will help overcome the seal, so soon you'll remember what you were up to before you came to this world."
Gilda and Derpy looked at each other again, as they were confused as to why Nefarious pointed at them when he mentioned memories and a machine, because as far as they knew all of their memories were correct and that this might just be a check-up of sorts, so they decided to wait patiently for Nefarious to reveal what was going on. Not even a few minutes later Secretary Sen and his most trusted officers rode up to the area that they were in and started seizing everything that belonged to Le Paradox, even taking the skunk into custody, while at the same time Secretary Sen asked what was going on at the moment. Nefarious quickly explained that he had come to this planet for a few reasons, the first was to contain and seal the Time Holes that had been forming, the very things that allowed the army of Neyla clones to march on Sly and the others, and the second was to bring both Gilda and Derpy back to their home planet for a few moments, to let them remember who they used to be before they moved on with their lives. He revealed that the process had worked for those that had come before the sisters, as if it meant something to them, and there was also the promise that they could always choose to remain here with their family, instead of moving back to their home world... though at the same time the sisters didn't really know what to believe, since they were used to the idea that they had been born and then abandoned by their parents, just like Diz had been.
Despite that fact, however, Sly and Carmelita were interested in what Nefarious had to say and the magic users, after taking some time to look at each other, eventually decided to agree as well, though since their only mode of transportation was the van Bentley and Penelope unplugged their time machine and stored it away, while at the same time both Elizabeth and Daniel joined their overjoyed parents, before everyone piled into the van as Nefarious stood on top of it.
"You might want to brace yourselves," Nefarious warned them, taking a moment to lean over the edge of the van's top so he could speak face to face with whoever was sitting on the passenger side of the vehicle, though when they nodded he stood back up and raised his hand towards the heavens, "Beam me up, Lawrence!"
Gilda and Derpy watched as a large silver circle appeared around the area that the van was in, causing some of the Interpol officers to back away as they stared at what was happening, and before they even knew what was happening they flashed into a tunnel that looked like the passage they used to travel into the past... and this time both they and the rest of the gang knew that this time they had no idea what was going to happen next, to which they looked forward to what was coming their way as they headed to the unknown.
When the gang was allowed to open their eyes again they were shocked and stunned by what they found, as Nefarious had transported them from the planet they had called home and took them out into a strange station that rested in the middle of space, something that had Bentley and Penelope grinning from ear to ear. Those two were absolutely excited about the idea of learning something new, something that they may or may not be allowed to share with the people of their own planet, and as the gang got out of the van they discovered that the station was far larger than they originally thought it was. It was like they were standing in the insides of a massive timekeeper, like an old fashioned watch or one of the large grandfather clocks that rested in peoples houses, and there was a beam of energy that seemed to pierce the middle of the station, or maybe it was something else and the station had been built around it, as it was hard to tell what was going on without asking questions.
"Really sir? 'Beam me up'?" a new voice asked, to which the gang turned towards their right and found what would be described as a robotic butler, despite looking a little fat in the stomach area, but other than that it appeared that there was more than one humanoid robot that they were going to be meeting.
"What? Don't kids like that phrase?" Nefarious inquired, though at the same time he jumped off the van and touched down near the butler, meaning that he must have made the second robot at some point and that the gang would need their full story before understanding their relationship, "I couldn't think of anything else to say at the moment, so I went with whatever sounded the best at the time, though I'm sure Qwark would have said something stupid and his followers would have eaten it up."
"Quite right sir," the robot, who had to the Lawrence that Nefarious mentoned, replied, before he shifted his gaze towards the gang for a few seconds and studied all of them, but not in a harsh way that would have frightened either Elizabeth or Daniel, though when he was done he beckoned for them to follow, "The memory device has been prepared for two people to use it, so we'll head there and restore any memories that have been lost to time, though what happens after that is up to you. Oh, and I hear Sunset is currently on the planet that she uses to test the powers of those that have gone through their own adventures, though whether she's meditating or blowing something up I have no idea, as she's not really doing much at the moment."
"Best to leave her alone then." Nefarious commented, though as the gang walked behind the robotic pair, since none of them knew the way to the machines and the two robots did, they all noticed that Nefarious still seemed concerned about something, and it had to be connected to this Sunset he kept mentioning, "If it's anything like the last time she was on that planet, when one of the other Equestrians had been taken there, they messed up a good part of the planet in their duel, and I honestly don't want to get caught up in whatever happens next on that planet."
There it is again, the term 'Equestrians'. Clockwerk spoke up, because there was something that they needed to know before they went any further, as all of them had thought that Gilda and Derpy had been born on the planet that they had called home, and Diz as well for that matter, but now it seemed like something different was happening, What exactly do you mean when you say that?
"It refers to ponies who call the planet Equus their home, and the same applies to those that have been charted off into the furthest reaches of the universe." Lawrence answered, though at the same time he stopped beside what seemed to be an elevator of some kind and beckoned for everyone to join him, but once they were on the platform he tapped something and they started moving up through the air, "Ponies are basically one of the dominate races of the planet Equus, and they are broken into three different tribes, those being unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies, along with their rulers being alicorns, a being that's the combination of the three tribes. There are also many other races that call that planet home as well, like minotaurs, dragons, zebras, changelings, and even griffins, though it is unusual for someone other than a pony to be taken to an entirely new world, even though you've gained a substantial power boost during your new lives... and that includes the two beings that accompany you, the one with chaos powers and the one that has more magic in him than we originally thought."
"You know, that reminds me," Sly spoke up, as there had been something that he had been thinking about since his Ancestors had come to recover their canes, as Merlin hadn't been among them and made it seem like he had been living for a long time based on the suit that had transformed into a robe, "I thought you died in the era that Galleth was in, since that's what the history books say when they talk about you, at least according to what Bentley tells me anyway."
"Unicorns tend to live much longer than the other two tribes, but generally not by much," Merlin replied, though even as he said that he tapped his staff on the ground and the stone at the top, a brilliant ruby, seemed to shine for a few seconds as he continued walking, "besides, with my experiences and knowledge I was able to find a way to prolong my life for a number of years, a secret that is nothing like the fountain of hatred that Clockwerk once fed on to keep his body functioning over the years. Though now, since it seems that my time on your planet is coming to an end, I guess I might as well come clean and not only reveal the truth about who I am, but also my real name, something that I haven't used much since I came to call your planet home. The reality of the situation is that 'Merlin' is merely a moniker that I started using once I woke up in the forest near Galleth's base of operations, as I was testing a special mirror and accidentally ended up in that area without a way to return home, which eventually gave way to the legends and tales of Merlin... though my real name is Star Swirl the Bearded, and I was a well known conjurer during my time in Equus."
"Starlight and the others are going to throw a fit when they realize who we've found." Nefarious said, as he thought the name that the elderly unicorn gave sounded very familiar, which was before he realized that he was standing in the presence of one of the greatest minds in all of Equus' history, one that had been considered dead for a long time, or merely lost depending on who you spoke to, "You're quite famous in Equus these days, Star Swirl, and I think there are a few ponies that would love to see you again."
Star Swirl nodded his head, indicating that he was eager to see who he was talking about and see the state that his home planet was in, before they arrived at the area that Lawrence had been taking them to, which was an oval shaped building that contained a large chamber inside it. When they stepped inside the chamber the gang found a second, much smaller container, that contained a pair of chairs that seemed to be hooked up to an interesting machine, especially since the machine had two headsets attached to it, and off on their right stood a console that Bentley and Penelope knew connected to the machine the gang happened to be staring at. When they entered the building Lawrence beckoned for most of the gang to head over to the area behind the console, as there happened to be a sitting or resting area, before both Gilda and Derpy walked into the central chamber, where Nefarious assisted them in taking their positions in the two chairs, because despite the fact that they didn't believe that they were from another world they were willing to humor the robots and see what came from this venture.
Once they were in position some cuffs wrapped around their arms and legs, to prevent them from doing anything when their memories returned to them, before Nefarious walked out of the central chamber and stood beside Lawrence, who started tapping several commands on the console. Moments later the two headsets dropped down to where the two sisters were sitting and they both let them come to a rest on their heads, since they were willing to humor them, and not a few moments later they felt the magic in the air, time magic based on what they felt, working on whatever Nefarious and Lawrence happened to be imputing into the console they were standing in front of. For a few moments nothing seemed to happen, just like Gilda and Derpy assumed would happen, but that was before their eyes widened in surprise as a stream of memories moved into their minds, memories that seemed to be focused on them in different forms, living in a world that now seemed familiar to them. Gilda saw herself flying through the air, in a more quadruped form that seemed like a bird of prey mixed with a powerful lion, before a wave of energy knocked her out of the air and caused her to black out, before the next memory showed her outside the orphanage that she and Derpy had been left outside... and Derpy, on the other hand, found herself delivering packages around a town, Ponyville, before the same thing happened to her, as she dropped the package she was holding onto before disappearing from her world and appeared alongside Gilda.
When the deed was done, and the headsets came off, the two of them sat up and found that they were able to wipe the sweat off their faces, finding that they were able to move their arms and legs again, before Gilda and Derpy glanced at each other with a new light in their eyes, as if they understood what had happened.
"No way. I thought he was kidding." Gilda commented, as it was hard to imagine having any memories before her arrival outside that orphanage, with Derpy beside her, but at the same time both of them knew that what they had been shown was the truth, something that neither of them had even considered when they agreed to do this.
"Well, he wasn't." Derpy stated, though what she found to be interesting was that she used to be a mailmare, one that didn't appear to be too good at what she did thanks to having messed up eyes, something that wouldn't matter anymore since one of her eyes was gone, but she personally liked being a thief, instead of what she used to be, "So our memories show that we aren't even sisters, or even related to each other, but personally I prefer having a sisterly bond with you, especially after everything we've been through."
"True. I can agree with that statement." Gilda said, to which the two of them stood up and focused on what they were going to do next, as they had no idea what Nefarious had in mind for them now that their previous memories had been restored to them, and they were sure that they'd figure that out in the near future.
"Are you two okay?" Sly asked, as he was worried about his sisters, despite the assurances that Nefarious gave him and the others, and he approached Gilda and Derpy the moment they stepped out of the chamber that they had been sitting in, where he noticed that they seemed to be happy about something.
"Never better." Derpy replied, though at the same time both she and Gilda stretched their wings for a moment, as they felt a little sore and they were both eager to explore the world that they used to call home, along with flying around and simply exercise for a few minutes, "So, what's next?"
Before anyone could reply they heard the sound of something popping into existence near them, though when they turned towards the sound they found what could only be described as a chimera creature that looked like Diz in his transformed state, only more advanced thanks to his serpent-like body.
"Hey, I felt the arrival of something that I haven't felt in many years!" the creature said, his voice sounding like a more mature version of Diz in some aspect as well, before he turned his head towards the area that the group happened to be standing in, "What did you... do?"
Diz and the creature stared at each other for a moment, like they were truly seeing each other for a moment, and Gilda, Derpy, and the rest of the gang realized that they might be in the presence of the being that was Diz's father, the one that dropped him off at the orphanage that he had been left at, and they knew that what they were going to learn next was going to be very interesting for all of them, especially for Diz.
"Discord!" Star Swirl happily said, to which he stepped forward and parted from the gang, who happened to be staring at the strange chimera creature that had appeared rather suddenly, before the creature in question turned and stared at him for a few seconds, "It's been, what, two thousand years since we last saw each other?"
"Star Swirl?" the chimera creature, Discord, exclaimed, though at the same time he took a few steps forward and waited for the unicorn sorcerer to come to a stop, where he looked over his form in surprise, showing that they must have known each other for a time, "Normally I'd say that this is impossible, because you disappeared one day and both Celestia and Luna cried at my statue for some time... they'll be happy to see that you aren't dead, even though Equestria, and Equus for that matter, have changed since you disappeared."
"I figured as much, seeing how I found two more Equestrians on the planet I was sent to." Star Swirl replied, waving his staff towards Gilda and Derpy for a moment, who understood who the being in front of them was, before he glanced back at the one person that he had been interested in when he first met him, "And, at the same time, they brought me into contact with your son."
"My... son?" Discord asked, as he was slightly confused as to what Star Swirl was talking about, though even as he said that he felt a flicker of energy, chaos energy to be exact, and turned towards the person that the conjurer was talking about, where his eyes widened for a moment when he looked at the humanoid hyena that looked more like him than he originally thought when he first saw him.
"That would be me." Diz spoke up, to which he approached the chimera being, Discord as Star Swirl called him, and realized that his full powered form looked nearly identical to the form that the creature possessed, "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Diz S. Cooper, formally Diz S. Cordious. Star Swirl told me that he knew my father... which I'm guessing, based on what he just said, has to be you."
"I... have a son?" Discord repeated, as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing at the moment, meaning that he had no idea that Diz had even existed in some manner and might not even be open to the idea that he had a child, before he focused on the pair that was in front of him, "I HAVE A SON!"
"An adult son that has abandonment issues." Diz snapped, because whether or not his father knew that he even existed really didn't matter, as he must have had a relationship with someone who was his mother, who was the one that had abandoned him, but right now he was still confused as to how he arrived outside the orphanage he was dropped at, when his father was from a different world.
"Well, this just got awkward..." Discord said, as he wasn't expecting someone who Star Swirl claimed was his son, and he could confirm that by the nearly identical energy signature that was coming from him, to be so upset, meaning that there was a story he was missing and only Diz could tell him it, before Diz raised his right hand and snapped his fingers as a light engulfed him for a second.
"And my gender occasionally flips without me forcing it to do so, just like I just did." Diz added, though as the light faded the gang found that he was back in his female form, while at the same time Star Swirl was a little surprised by the change and Discord just stared at her for a moment.
"That makes this less awkward." Discord stated, to which a smile appeared on his face as he raised his right fist into the air for a moment, making everyone wonder what in the world he was doing, since they figured that he'd be more upset over what he just discovered, "I HAVE A DAUGHTER!"
Diz stood there for a moment, wondering if she had found someone that was even more insane than she was, before she sighed and brought her palm to her face, because she honestly couldn't believe that this was what she had been looking forward to when Star Swirl told her that he knew who her father was.
"Um, what in the world is going on?" Sly asked, because right now he and the others were both surprised and sort of confused by what they were watching, as they thought that Diz would have been happy to find the person that was her father, only for her to seem annoyed by what they were seeing.
"This, apparently, is my father." Diz replied, though she was torn between accepting it, as she was as random as Discord was at times, and raging over the fact that she was expecting something more, before she frowned as she thought of something else, "Well, that solves one mystery... but it doesn't explain who my mother is."
"Well darling, there's only one answer I can give you... you're a chip of the old block." Discord said, though as he snapped his fingers the gang expected to find him suddenly changing gender as well, but in reality he summoned a table for them to sit at, a large one that had enough room for everyone, "But first, a little history about who I am for those of you who don't know me. A little over a thousand years ago I, Discord, the Lord of Chaos at the time, was the undisputed ruler of Equestria, a region that I covered in a cloud of chaos and bent to my every whim, though before long two alicorn princesses, Celestia and Luna, arrived and used the Elements of Harmony to imprison me in a stone statue. The Elements of Harmony are six special gemstones that represent the aspects of, well, harmony and order, and those aspects are Honesty, Loyalty, Kindness, Generosity, Laughter, and Magic, though when they're used together they imprison or banish whoever they're used against. I've never bothered to tell anyone this, but when they were used against me the first time around I had actually been thinking about finding a way to have a child of my own, an heir to the throne as I thought of it at the time, and I never got around to it since I was frozen in stone... but, as it just so happens to be, a small fragment of my soul had been knocked loose and disappeared before I even knew what was going on."
"So... I'm a soul given a physical form?" Diz asked, though he and his family were confused, as it didn't seem like the answer they were being given made any sense to them and Discord didn't seem to be in the mood for correcting himself in the slightest.
"In a way." Star Swirl spoke up, as he understood the basics of what Discord was trying to say and knew that he could give the gang the answers that they were searching for, which was when everyone turned and looked at him for the answers behind who Diz was, "The reality is that you were once an aspect of Discord, a small fragment that seems to have been constructed from pieces of his innocence, his serious nature, and various parts of his desire to have fun while messing with those that were around him, while at the same time having none of his memories and no control over the power that you were suddenly able to wield. I cannot tell what you were supposed to be an aspect of, as it has been a long time since the day you were separated from Discord, but thanks to the amount of time you've been apart from each other you have become your own person, meaning that you are free to live your life as you desire."
"You make it sound like he would have had to merge with Discord for some reason," Gilda commented, which would have been horrible if they had come all this way, and saved all of the Cooper Ancestors from their own problems, only to lose Diz in the most horrible way possible.
"Maybe at one point that would have been true, but now it's not." Star Swirl said, to which he smiled as he stared at Diz for a moment, who was staring at him while she wondered what else he was going to say before their conversation was over, "Like I said, Diz is her own person now, meaning that she has gone from an aspect of what Discord used to be and has become an entire separate and independent being, like a child that he never knew that he had."
"And you figured all this out from our meeting?" Diz asked, because when she considered that Merlin was a genius, or at least according to the history books and what not, she still found it odd that he was able to somehow see through her and peer at her soul, to see what she truly was without her knowing that information herself.
"Indeed I did." Star Swirl stated, though at the same time he found that some of the strange little creatures that were flying around the air around them actually dropped off a variety of food and drink items for them to enjoy, as if they knew that they would be talking for a longer time than they assumed, "You are Diz S. Cooper, not a fragment of Discord, so take pride in who you are and live your life to the fullest, though I am still unsure what sort of lifespan you have, considering that you're Discord's child."
"Since Diz was 'born' by the Elements hitting Discord, and splitting him off, doesn't that technically mean that both Discord and the Elements of Harmony are his parents?" Penelope asked, as she was trying to figure out who the 'mother' would have been, since they were knew that Discord was his father figure, before Discord coughed for a moment and spat something out of his mouth, "What's wrong?"
"There's no way the Elements of Harmony could be his mother, since chaos and order don't mix very well," Discord replied, though at the same time he seemed to remember something else, like a friend or something that his statement reminded him of, before he shook his head and stared at them, "though maybe the ones that wielded the Elements at the time of my imprisonment, when Diz was broken off of me, might be a better candidate for that position... oh, I can already see the look on both Celestia and Luna's faces when I tell them they might actually have a son of their own."
"Really? They never settled down and had their own families?" Star Swirl asked, as that was disappointing, because he was certain that the two powerful mares that he had taught, before he disappeared to the world Derpy, Gilda, and Diz found him on, would have found a relationship of their own and started their own families.
"Well, Luna was banished to the moon for the last thousand years, maybe a month or so after I was originally turned to stone by her and her sister." Discord answered, as it had been interesting to discover that piece of information when he had been freed the first time around, and then the same happened when he confirmed that it had actually happened shortly after he was trapped in his statue form, "Celestia might actually have a family, though if that's true they aren't very close, despite the fact that the family in question clings to what nobility they have left... besides, the current head of the family and some of the other nobles didn't like the idea of the awakening process, which is essentially what happened to Gilda and Derpy. Ponies that go through this process take on a more human form and gain incredible powers as a result, and there's even a school that young Twilight opened so she and some of the others could teach ponies how to control their new powers and not blow something, like a house, to pieces on accident or something."
"Interesting." Sly remarked, as it was interesting to hear that there were more ponies out there that had gone through the same thing that his sisters had gone through, if he chose to believe what he was hearing, before he glanced to his right and noticed that, out of all the people at the table, only Clockwerk seemed distracted, "Clockwerk, is something wrong? You've barely said anything since we sat down and started talking."
Talking about past events has made me think about why I became what I am. Clockwerk replied, to which he lifted his right wing for a moment and stared at it, as if remembering a time when he made of flesh and bone, instead of the metallic being that he had become, before he lowered his wing and sighed, This whole time traveling mess started because you wanted to know what drove me to become Clockwerk, to become the hateful being that sought the end of the Cooper Clan, so I guess I might as well spill the beans and tell you what happened all those years ago.
As Clockwerk started to tell them what had happened all those years ago, the events that drove him to become a soulless machine that wanted to destroy Sly's family line out of hatred and everything else that he had been feeling at the time, the little creatures manipulated the area around them and suddenly they were floating in the air above the area that the ancient owl was telling them about. Clockwerk revealed that he had been an owl that looked like Arpeggio, in terms of how his body looked since he was able to fly, and that he had gone by a different name at the time, Klaw, though the time period he was born in was between the time of Slytunkhamen I and Salim's era. Technology was still growing, despite there being next to none of it, and new things were being discovered every now and then, though at the same time a young Klaw, who was as adventurous as a Cooper and as skilled as one, including being incredibly smart for the era he was born in, had made a bit of a name for himself with his skills. His abilities caught the eye of the Cooper ancestor that was living at the time, one of the more minor ones that was barely mentioned in the Thievius Raccoonus, and soon he found himself being invited to train with the Ancestor's daughter, who would become a thief like her father and her slightly older brother, who was away for some reason.
Despite his promises towards his new mentor, to focus on his training and nothing else, the young Klaw became attracted to his mentor's daughter, Katherine Cooper, and it became clear that her father noticed the beginnings of the relationship and tried his best to limit the time the pair had. At the time it was socially acceptable for the father figure to find appropriate matches for his daughter, and Katherine's father was no exception, though he was trying to rise them into the higher ranking nobility and given their family political power over the area they were living in, and he was against letting her marry Klaw, since that would give way to hybrid children, which weren't treated well back in that era. When it became clear that he wasn't going to be a Cooper, since his mentor didn't want him to associate himself romantically with his daughter, the younger Klaw took it upon himself to learn all the techniques that he was being taught and recreated a few of them for his own purposes, allowing an owl or an avian to use them. Eventually he left and created one of the first versions of the Klaww Gang, an all avian group from the looks of it, and they quickly rose to the level where they were spoken in whispers like the Cooper Clan was, showing his mentor that he might be worthy of Katherine's hand... and yet, despite everything that was happening, the gang watched as Klaw found one of the ancient gods, that many worshiped in the past, and struck a deal with them.
Klaw, from what they could tell, had the desire to build something that would protect Katherine and her line after he was gone, where the deal he had made gave him an ancient and lost recipe to create the powerful metallic body that Clockwerk possessed, and he used his wealth to gather some of the ingredients that he needed to forge the limbs and body of his guardian. The god he made the deal with was also the god of time, or one of them anyway since each culture had their own version of the being, and it was there that he used his genius mind to it's fullest, crafting the first power system that would fuel his metallic body. The gang was surprised to find that he had originally built what would become his body to be a protector, for the family he eventually came to hate, and Derpy's eye widened in surprise when they noticed that Klaw was using magic, alchemy, and advanced technology to forge what became the Hate Chip, which was when Clockwerk explained that it was designed to emotional energies, such as love and hatred, into physical energy that would actually fuel the body he was making. They could tell that it was originally designed to function on love, since he still had powerful feelings towards Katherine, and it wasn't long before both the original chip and the original metallic body were completed, but by the time he had completed his work the love of his life had married another raccoon, as she became convinced that Klaw had left her, and even had her own child.
Unfortunately her husband tried to prove that he was worthy of the Cooper name and not only got himself killed by his foolishness, but the criminal he tried to steal from turned his power on the remainder of his family and killed both Katherine and her child, turning Klaw's emotions into total rage towards his former mentor. That powerful rage and hatred twisted the power of the chip he carried into the Hate Chip that Sly and the others knew about, and at the same time he headed back to where his protector had been hidden, as he originally intended to present it to both Katherine and his mentor to show that he wanted to help their Clan in his own manner. He didn't put the chip into the protector the moment he returned to it, rather he focused on making sure that it was as perfect as he had designed it to be, that it's claws could slice through everything and that it's wings would be able to carry him, all while allowing his rage and hatred to grow over the couple of days he worked on it. When at last he was certain that his protector was ready to go, and there was nothing that could stop him, Klaw turned towards the door of his hideout as his former mentor discovered where he had been hiding, where he cursed his former mentor and anyone that shared his blood, since his son had gone off to a different place to continue the family line, before declaring that he would hunt the Cooper Clan for as long as he lived and then merged himself with his powerful creation.
The Ancestor barely had time to understand what was going in front of him before Klaw, who fully merged with the systems of his protector and proclaimed that he would henceforth be known as Clockwerk from that day forward, raised his talons and cut his former mentor down in cold blood... before flying out of the now ruined building and started his sinister quest to destroy the Cooper Clan, starting with his mentor's missing son.
And for the next thousand years I stayed true to my quest, hunting the Coopers across the planet, until I found your father and formed the Fiendish Five. Clockwerk finished, to which he sighed for a moment, as remembering what had caused him to create this body and start his quest was always painful, when he thought about Katherine and the love that had been lost, a fact that always caused him to bury the past until he sealed it away and forgot about it, I thought that I could finally end it all with the death of your father, and then defeating you when you didn't know your family's techniques, but when you stuck me down I finally accepted my defeat and tried to fade away. Arpeggio's actions at putting me back together, and Neyla's attempt to take my body for her own goals, stirred me into waking up and taking back my body before it could be used against you... and then, when you should have destroyed me, you withdrew the Harmony Chip and put it back where it belonged, restoring a piece of myself that I long considered to be gone.
"I knew that there was some good inside you, based on what I felt from the chip," Derpy said, though at the same time most of the gang moved to comfort the ancient owl, while both Elizabeth and Daniel smiled at him, before Sly nodded his head in agreement, "Clockwerk, or Klaw if you prefer, you started with the best intentions and they were twisted by what had happened to you all those years ago, but I think you have made up for those actions by helping us save the rest of the Coopers and restore history to what it was supposed to be."
"It's like we said a long time ago, you're part of our family now." Sly stated, as there was a time where he and the others had comforted the ancient owl in such a manner, but this time they were forgiving his sins, especially since it was the fault of one of his Ancestors that what was supposed to be a protector became a sinister monster that was bent on destroying his family line, "You wiped your slate clean years ago, so there's no reason to beat yourself up over what happened in the past, and instead you should focus on what's in front of you."
Clockwerk stared at Sly for a moment, surprised that he was still so willing to accept him after everything that he had done to his family, and nodded his head in agreement, as he was right in the fact that he had found his place, even though it took some time to figure that out. After a few moments Clockwerk mentally flipped a switch that was near the command that allowed him to take on his miniature form, though instead of becoming a smaller version of himself he broke down and transformed into his old form, that of a humanoid owl that was just a young adult. Despite what he had shown the gang over the years, since he first joined them, there was the command that allowed him to do what Neyla had done, to take on his original form, though he remained silent as he stood slightly shorter than Sly's height and watched as his old thief attire, a modified version of the same attire that Sly was wearing, formed from the metal moments later, before his old skin color returned as well. It had been a long time since he had seen his brown colored fur and his old organic wings, as he had stopped using this form a long time ago, but as he finished transforming into his humanoid form he sighed and opened his eyes once more, where he noticed the looks of surprise on everyone's faces.
"Nice form." Diz said, though at the same time she meant it in the sense that he would have easily found someone else to replace Katherine, if he hadn't been consumed by such a blinding rage, as she was interested in finding romance in someone that she didn't consider family or very close friends.
"It's been a long time since I've used this, so walking might be hard for me." Clockwerk replied, though as he spoke the gang found that his voice seemed to be how it was before he merged himself with his project, where he glanced down at himself for a few moments, "And it might take some time getting used to my old voice... I haven't heard it since the day I merged with larger frame, the one that most people think of when they hear the name 'Clockwerk'."
"So what's next?" Murray asked, to which he glanced back at the area that his van was in, because he was thinking about heading home and restarting his normal career, when Sly and the others didn't need him, before he turned his attention to the group that was his family.
"First things first, we head back to Equus and see Twilight." Discord said, to which their table picked itself up and floated down to where the van was located, though as they drew close Nefarious and Lawrence excused themselves, as this was for the gang and they didn't want to sully their arrival with their presence, "And to do that, since we have so many people, I'll need to use a shortcut to get us back home."
The gang, despite the fact that they had to climb back into the van, turned towards Discord as the fabric of reality opened before him, like a wormhole between two points, but on the other side of the portal rested a snowy area that didn't seem to match what Gilda and Derpy knew, especially with the short skeleton that seemed to be wearing a blue hoodie and a white t-shirt under it, who glanced at the hole and stared at Discord for a moment.
"Oops, wrong shortcut. Sorry about that." Discord said, speaking to both the group and the skeleton at the same time, though he waited for the skeleton to nod his head once before he closed the portal, to which he waved his arm and a portal to a town of some kind opened in it's place, "Much better."
Sly and the others stared at each other for a moment, as they weren't entirely sure what they were getting themselves into this time around, but at the same time they were interested in what Gilda and Derpy's home planet looked like, which was why Murray drove them forward and the van disappeared into the void, heading for the town that was on the other side of the portal and waited to see what happened next.
Murray carefully moved the van through the hole in reality that Discord had opened for them, because while it seemed to be a straight path that they had to follow his experience in dealing with anything related to chaotic powers, since Diz was the only one the gang had known that had access to that power, he knew that deviating from the path in front of them would be the wrong move. It wasn't that hard to follow the path, as Discord was flying above their van, or floating since they weren't entirely sure what he was doing, and he was using his powers to manipulate the path into a straight line for them to follow, all while making sure they didn't accidentally head into one of the many other openings that existed around them. From the looks of it each opening went to a different world, meaning that the God of Chaos could travel to another world whenever he desired, as there were openings to a world that seemed to be at war, a ruined kingdom, and a number of other worlds that were different from the ones before them. Bentley and Penelope made notes on some of the worlds that they drove by, as they were interested in what they were seeing and were making notes on anything that they might attempt to build in the future, as long as they were sure that it didn't do something to ruin the world like their Time Viewer, and the accidental Time Machine, almost did.
It wasn't long before the slightly larger opening came upon them, to which Discord flew through the opening in reality and the van followed after him, to which Gilda, Derpy, and everyone else's eyes widened as they came out of the 'shortcut', only to come to a stop outside a large village or town, before Murray turned off the engine.
"No way." Carmelita said, as while she was expecting a town full of ponies, because that was what she and the others had gotten from how Star Swirl talked about the planet he came from, but while the town in front of them looked almost like a medieval village mixed with some modern bits of civilization, and that didn't prepare them for what else they found when they looked out of the van.
What they discovered was that the population of the town, Ponyville based on the sign that was nearby, had all gone through whatever process had allowed Gilda, Derpy, and Star Swirl to take on their humanoid forms, but even as they all noticed that Discord opened the door and ushered them outside. Discord explained that the Awakening Process, as that was what they called the event that caused a pony to take on their new form, gave the ponies an 'anthro' like form, which happened to be the same type of shape that Sly, Carmelita, and the rest of the inhabitants from their world had. The only major difference between Gilda and Derpy, who had gone to Sly's world, and a pony that remained on this world was that both pegasi and alicorns lost their wings, while Gilda and Derpy were the only ones that had retained their wings, though it wasn't all that important since pegasi tended to develop powers relating to the weather anyway.
"Wait, so every pony that went through that process has some sort of magical power?" Bentley asked, because if that was true than this world was full of beings that were at least as powerful as Gilda and Derpy were, and that wasn't taking into consideration the power that a unicorn or an alicorn could obtain.
"Each of them unlock their own elemental affinity, be it wind, water, fire, earth, and even sound," Discord replied, as he was pleased to see that they were keeping track of what he was saying, but once they were all out of the van, and the doors were locked, he had them follow him, "Many ponies have the same affinity, though while two ponies might have the power over fire they're also on completely different levels, meaning that some might be as strong as Gilda and Derpy, most will be weaker than them, and a select few will be even stronger than they are. Derpy, your affinity is lightning, as you have already determined from your adventures, and Gilda's is for the wind around us, but listen to me when I tell you that there is another pony in this town with that affinity, and her power over lightning has put her on a level that is far beyond what most of the ascended ponies are at."
"Stronger... that Derpy?" Carmelita inquired, though even as she and the others followed Discord into the town, and were amazed by the sights, they were still surprised by the fact that there was someone out there with the same power as Derpy, and they were shocked to hear that the other pony's power outclassed everyone that could command lightning, especially after everything that they had seen Gilda and Derpy do over the years.
"Frighteningly so." Discord admitted, as he had seen the sheer power that the pony in question wielded when she was angry, and the destruction that she caused whenever she battled someone, and he knew that it was best if they didn't bother her at the moment, even if her power paled before the might of a true god.
"Discord! Your back!" a voice called out, to which Gilda and Derpy turned, as they both recognized the voice, their heads and watched as a familiar pink furred ascended pony, wearing some interesting armor that showed off her midriff and happened to be wearing an open cloak on top of that as well, rushed over to where they were standing, before she came to a stop and stared at the group behind Discord, "And you brought back Gilda, Derpy, and their family!"
"Indeed I did, Pinkie, though I did so with some help from Nefarious and Lawrence," Discord said, as he knew that it was only a matter of time until Pinkie found them out and came to where they were standing, though at the same time this was better than running into Rainbow or Sunset.
"That means that I can throw them a party at some point in the near future." Pinkie stated, because despite her own adventure, something that she only told others about when they wanted to know what she had been through, she was still good at throwing parties and making people happy, especially those that had been displaced to other worlds and came back with their families, before she noticed two additional members of the group, "I don't think I've had the pleasure of meeting either of you before today."
"I am Diz S. Cooper, and I'm the son/daughter of Discord... depending on which gender I'm at any given moment," Diz replied, though during their journey through the shortcut his magic had snapped him back to his male form, to which he tapped his cane on the ground for a moment, "My family, the one from the world Derpy, Gilda, Star Swirl, and I were sent to, specializes in stealing back items and people that were taken from their rightful owners."
"That's interesting, since Pinkie's the sister of a Prince and is one of the Precursors' greatest warriors." a voice said, to which the group looked around the area that they were in and tried to locate the speaker, though that was before a small purple furred creature, which appeared to be a mix of a otter and a weasel, climbed up Pinkie's back and stopped when he was standing on her right shoulder, "Sup? My name's Raven, and I'm one of Pinkie's friends. So, care to introduce the rest of your family before we move forward?"
"Well, this is our brother Sly, along with his wife Carmelita and their kids Elizabeth and Daniel." Gilda replied, though it seemed that they might be getting off topic at the moment, but she figured that they could afford to tell Pinkie and Raven who they were, even if they had to do that many more times after this moment, "And these are our friends Bentley, Murray, Penelope, and Clockwerk."
"Clockwerk... like an android or something?" Pinkie asked, because thanks to listening to the adventures her friends had told her about, as most of her friends had been displaced as well, she knew more about certain things than she originally did, especially since one of her former friends, on the planet she had been sent to, had turned himself into a cyborg and needed to be put down.
"Yes. I am an ancient owl that used magic, alchemy, technology, and the help of a god to forge a metallic body that could only be wounded by powerful electric blasts, which I've overcome, and magic itself." Clockwerk replied, though even as he said that he knew that if he tried anything, such as attack Pinkie or any of the other residents of the town, he'd be destroyed before he could do anything, which was why he was glad that he wasn't evil anymore, "My body has three forms I can choose from, to use whenever I desire, and those are the one you're seeing right now, an ordinary owl that's made from metal, and my true form."
"Is that so?" Raven inquired, to which he and Pinkie glanced at each other for a moment, as they were thinking the same thing, before he turned back towards the group that was in front of them, just as Pinkie turned to head to another part of the town, "There's an area that some ponies use to train their new powers in, the minor stuff since Sunset has told everyone not to use their major powers on this planet, and since it's nearby I thought that we could see what you really look like... and maybe show you something as well."
The gang looked at each other as they followed Pinkie towards the area that Raven was talking about, though at the same time Gilda and Derpy found that some of Ponyville's residents were smiling and waving at them, happy to see that they had returned at last, showing that many knew about the ones that had been displaced and that they were used to the missing returning with new faces. Along the way Pinkie told the group that Raven was a creature called an ottsel, which just so happened to be an intelligent species on the planet she went to and they had become friends in no time, though they could tell that she didn't want them thinking that Raven was a pet or anything. She further explained that the armor she was wearing, which had a balloon shaped sapphire in the middle of the chest plate, was created by the Precursors, ancient and powerful beings of the part of the universe they ruled over, and that she had unlocked some decent powers of her own while she was helping her brother Jak and her friend Daxter on their adventures. From what little she said both Gilda and Derpy knew that her already incredible reality breaking powers, since she had some untapped potential last they checked, must have become even stronger since they last saw her, meaning that she might be able to take both them and Diz in a fight if she really wanted to.
It wasn't long before they reached the 'training' area that Pinkie told them about, which was just a patch of land between Ponyville and the Everfree Forest, something that Gilda and Derpy named as soon as they saw it, but from the looks of things it appeared that someone had been practicing recently and left without cleaning up, as there were a few smoking craters left behind.
"Applejack's not going to be happy when she comes back and sees this." Raven commented, causing the group to wonder what sort of power the newest named member of this world had to offer, before he turned towards them and jumped onto the ground, "Okay then, let's see what you've got."
Clockwerk stepped forward and made sure to separate himself from the group, though once he was clear the color drained from his body as his form shifted, leaving behind the humanoid appearance that he had been wearing and took on his true menacing form, though not even a few moments later his talons touched the ground below him and he stood at his full height once more.
This is 'what I've got', little one. Clockwerk stated, his robotic voice coming back entirely now that he had changed shapes, though at the same time both Raven and Pinkie seemed impressed by what they were seeing, This body is feared by the many enemies of the Cooper Clan, as they know that to challenge them is to not only challenge their legacy, but also the one that I helped maintain.
"So your a predatory owl, in metal form." Raven said, to which he put some distance between him and the rest of the group, showing that he might actually have something that he wanted to show off as well, before he came to a stop and looked back at Clockwerk, "That's cool and all, but what till you see what I've got hidden up my sleeve."
Before anyone could stop him, not that most of them would have stopped him since they were all interested in what he had to show them, a dark purple mist seeped out of his body for a moment and shrouded his form, though that was followed by the sound of cracking bones and some moans as Raven did whatever he was doing. Everyone watched in shock as the little ottsel's form grew larger and larger with each passing second, so much so that whatever Raven was becoming stood at least as tall as Clockwerk was in his terrifying form, but when the mist cleared they discovered something that truly shocked them. Raven's transformed state was bulkier than the little form he had been using the entire time, his hands and feet had shifted into deadly looking claws and talons that looked like they might slice through metal, large wings that could lift his body into the air if he so desired and would allow him to move as he wished, a tail that resembled a dragon's tail, and a large dragon head to complete what he was going for, complete with a dark blue gemstone in the middle of his forehead.
As the gang and Clockwerk stared at this, as they weren't expecting Raven to have the ability to transform into such a powerful and terrifying looking creature, Raven chuckled for a moment, a sound they never thought they'd hear a dragon make, before he looked at all of them.
"Trust me, an ottsel transforming into a dragon is the least of your worries," Raven said, though while his voice had changed to match his new form, just like Clockwerk had done with his voice, they could tell that he was used to this and that Pinkie must have used it to her advantage in the world she had been sent to.
"I do hope the two of you weren't thinking of fighting out here." a voice said, to which another ascended pony teleported into the area near them, though what caught Sly and his family by surprise was the fact that this one looked like she was half human, as Pinkie had called her brother, and half dragon, though her scales were light blue and she had three horns, two coming from the area just above her head and coiled backwards while the third was a blue curved crystalline horn in the middle of her forehead, before both Clockwerk and Raven shook their heads, "Good. I don't want Sunset to come back from Azeroth and find that two of the friends that some of the displaced ponies brought back wrecked a good portion of the area near Ponyville, as that is just asking for a bad time."
"Don't worry Trixie, they were just showing each other their true forms." Pinkie said, though even as she said that Raven got the message and reverted back to his ottsel form, causing Clockwerk to return to his humanoid form, before they walked back to their respective groups.
"Right." Trixie replied, though at the same time she shifted her stance and her mage robes, which she seemed to be wearing in the place of normal clothing like Star Swirl was, moved a bit, before she smiled at the gang, "Like Pinkie said, my name is Trixie, though my last name is Lulamoon, and I am known as both an Archmage and the Spell-Weaver on the planet that I was sent to... and before you ask, technically I'm no longer a pony, since I merged with the soul fragment of the last Spell-Weaver and became a Blue Dragon in the process. And no, I'm not going to transform into my other form just because Raven and your pal did."
"Fair enough." Sly said, as he wasn't expecting every ascended pony they came across to just show them the power than they had unlocked during their own adventure, though once he said that he took a moment and introduced his family and their newest friend to Trixie.
"Star Swirl... as in Star Swirl the Bearded?" Trixie asked, though once she heard the name her eyes lit up, showing that ponies still knew the name and that Nefarious hadn't been wrong, there would be ponies that would be excited to learn that he was still alive and that he had come home.
"That's right." Star Swirl replied, to which he tapped his staff on the ground and felt better knowing that ponies of this day and age still knew about him, even though he'd have to find Celestia and Luna to figure out what he could do to assist them, like he did in the old days.
"You guys found an ancient and powerful conjurer, one that we thought had been dead for the last thousand or so years... Twilight's going to flip when she hears about this." Trixie commented, though the smile on her face indicated that she was also pleased to see that they had found Star Swirl, before she seemed to think of something else, "Oh, since you're back, I think it would be best if I warned you abut the fact that the Dazzlings have returned to Equus, so you aren't caught off guard when you meet them, but trust me, they're no longer the evil Sirens that you banished long ago."
"I see... that means I must consider what to do when I meet them again." Star Swirl said, showing that he was a little surprised to hear that the three Sirens he had banished had found their way home, and that they were no longer evil, before determining that it would be best to meet them at some point and form his own opinions then.
"Pinkie, I know you'll be throwing a party for them soon, to celebrate their return, but don't expect Sunset, Twilight, Celestia, or Applejack to be there." Trixie said, turning towards who the gang assumed was a party planner or something of that degree, though her words indicated that this happened all the time, and Pinkie didn't seem upset at all, "My friends on Azeroth finally found the last two Old Gods that we've been trying to find for ages and wanted Sunset to deal with them before they managed to break their seals... and apparently there might be a third one trapped inside a dagger, so she'll be taking care of that as well, though they won't be back till tomorrow at the earliest. I, on the other hand, have to return to the Dragon Lands for some time, to convince Ember to stop sending messengers to me, as I am simply the link between her and Princess Luna, and I don't have the desire to rule an entire kingdom or become the Dragon Lord."
Pinkie nodded and lead the way back into Ponyville, claiming that they were heading to Sugercube Corner, though as the gang followed them Trixie nodded her head and disappeared as quickly as she had arrived, showing that her mastery over teleportation magic was to be admired, at least by Star Swirl anyway. The building in question was where Pinkie worked, but at the same time it held an area for parties that she liked to throw, so much so that her boss had added an area specifically for it and generally liked having new customers, even if they were from another world. What they discovered was that she had already prepared for their arrival, feeling them moments before their arrival, and Discord simply told them that they would never be able to figure out Pinkie Pie, as Twilight had tried and failed to do that, before the gang simply shrugged and followed them into the room that was being used as their party. Not only were there food and drinks provided, from both the store Pinkie worked in and several around the area, the gang also found that there were a number of the locals already attending it, and when they walked in the party really got started, leaving no time for any of them to get settled down as they were swept along by the current.
While they were partying, however, Sly and Carmelita noticed a few things, like the arrival of someone called Rainbow Dash, who apparently had known Gilda and Derpy before they were sent to their world and embraced them with open arms once she came inside the building, and the fact that she was dressed in some martial arts style clothing. There was some talk about a 'Dinky Doo' who was with their parents, as it appeared that Derpy had been planning on looking after a friend's kid when she disappeared and the family in question didn't blame her for suddenly vanishing, since strange things happened in Ponyville, and it seemed like Gilda was thinking about visiting her actual homeland once she and Derpy got settled into living in this place. Another thing they noticed was three girls, sisters they guessed since they came in at the same time and had identical pendants around their necks, who immediately noticed Star Swirl and walked up to him, but as it turned out they weren't going to fight him and ruin the party, rather they actually thanked him for banishing them in the first place, as it eventually allowed them to open their eyes and become heroes. Star Swirl was a little shocked by the news, but at the same time he seemed pleased to hear that they were doing so well, and before long they were chatting about the adventure the sisters had been on and were enjoying the party, forgetting about their ancient past and enjoying what was happening around them at that very moment.
Sly and Carmelita smiled as they, along with both their gang and their family, enjoyed the party that Pinkie was throwing for them, as it would allow them to relax and finally take their minds off of what they had been though, and they were pleased to see that Gilda, Derpy, and even Diz were enjoying themselves at long last.
A week had done by since Gilda and Derpy's return to Equus, where they found that their old lives had been suspended until their return from whatever 'adventure' they had been on, though what the two of them and the gang found out was that Derpy's old lift consisted of being one of the worst mail carrying ponies of all time. From what they could tell it was all because of her eyes, since they had been going two different directions and apparently made her job incredibly difficult, but at the same time she guessed that she could thank Clockwerk for destroying one of her eyes like he had, because on her first day back she was able to get the job done in about an hour. Of course part of her speed was because she could fly faster than she could before they were taken to Sly's world, despite everyone else gaining that ability when they went through the Ascension Process, but at the same time a few of her tricks came into play and allowed her to chart her own course through Ponyville, allowing her to beat all the other mail carriers in the process. She mostly did it because she wanted to see what her old life was like, but her cane remained on her back at all times and she found that she didn't even need it anymore, as there weren't any hooks for her to use and no enemy guards to steal loot from.
Diz, upon accepting that he was the heir to Discord's golden throne, did what his father did the moment he came into contact with the ponies that used to command the Elements of Harmony, he made friends with all of them at Pinkie's party, surprising his father in the process, since it had taken some time and some doing to get even one of them to be his friend. Ponies found that, while he did contain a smaller level of Discord's desire to prank others, Diz was more series than his father was and that some of his pranks were actually funny, as they weren't the ones that had to suffer as he used his pranks against his father, who was stunned and surprised at the same time. What surprised Diz was that his father didn't own his own place to live, since he was used to crashing at Twilight's castle while he worked on keeping track of the number of ponies that had been displaced, the worlds that they had been sent to when he figured out where they were, and a handful of other aspects that he didn't want to know about, as he was just fine knowing that his father's work was almost over, since there was only one pony left that hadn't returned home yet.
Trixie was right, as the moment Twilight Sparkle and Star Swirl crossed paths, which had happened outside the party, Twilight had shocked and jumping for joy as she freaked out at the mere thought of her meeting her idol, a pony that many had looked up to over the years. Star Swirl was pleased to hear that she was happy to meet him, and expressed some surprise when she mentioned the spell that she had finished some time ago that was one of the ones he had written about, but at the same time that just showed that Twilight had a talent for magic. His meeting with Celestia and Luna, who showed up maybe an hour into the party, was an interesting one as they stared at each other for a few moments, as if they weren't actually seeing each other, before the sisters smiled and walked towards him, where the three of them headed outside and had their own private conversation that would likely stretch on for hours and go into the morning, but what Gilda and Derpy noticed was that both of the royal sisters had tears of happiness in their eyes.
Their family enjoyed themselves during the party, especially Elizabeth and Daniel since they were young and full of energy, and when it came time for them to turn in for the night Twilight let them use some of the rooms in her castle, since she had a lot and didn't use all of them... and there was one room, the room of Sunset Shimmer, that they weren't allowed in, so they nodded their heads and turned in for the night, as there was more for them to do to settle into the lives that Derpy and Gilda were returning to.
When morning arrived Gilda learned from both Rainbow Dash, and her own previous set of memories, that she lived out in Griffonstone, with the rest of the griffins, but upon arriving in the area she found that it was sort of rundown and that it would take a good portion of the Cooper Clan's vault to get it back to what it had been like in the past, something that she decided not to do since it wasn't her treasure anyway. Of course many of the other griffins that she encountered, as the majority of them stuck to their original forms while some went through the Ascension Process, were surprised to see her return, especially since they hadn't been told anything about what happened to her and had sold her old place to someone else, but she was fine with that. Fortunately Gabby, an arctic bluish gray coated griffin that had gone through the process, had taken it upon herself to make sure that some of Gilda's possessions had been moved to Ponyville, or more specifically Rainbow's house, who kept the items carefully packaged and in pristine condition for her return. Once she made that discovery she returned to Ponyville and found that the items they were able to save were just some pictures of her and her friends, which was great since the rest of her belongings were trash anyway, so she was fine with just having these saved and stored in the van.
Despite Equus being their home world, the place where they grew up and formed all their previous memories, Gilda found that there weren't any big gangs like the Klaww Gang or the Fiendish Five, meaning no big time robberies for her and the others to clean up, and whatever minor ones occurred were finished by the local guards, who did a very good job keeping order in the streets. As such Gilda had come to the conclusion that she would grow bored of living in this world without anything major happening, so she had told Sly and the others that she was definitely returning home with them, to continue the great name of the Cooper Clan and take out whatever gang rose to replace Le Paradox.
"Are you sure you don't want to stay here?" Rainbow asked, as while she and Gilda had buried the hatchet during the party, because in the past Gilda had been a jerk to a few of her new friends and recently apologized to all of them for her past actions, she had been hoping that her friend would stick around and enjoy the life that she was coming back to, especially with Derpy and Diz living nearby.
"Rainbow, it's nice to visit our home world, it really is," Gilda replied, as she had been dreading this the moment she decided to head back to the world that she and Derpy had been sent to so long ago, even though she wondered if it had been to find and retrieve Diz and not for their own benefit, "but to be honest, I think living in Equus would be kind of dull after some time. Living in Ponyville would be interesting, since you guys deal with monsters and a number of other things every day, but there's nothing for a thief that steals what was wrongfully stolen to do in this world, not when the guards can figure out what happened on their own. Look, I even asked Discord to enchant a small part of the van's interior, so it has a shorter shortcut than the one we took to get here, so I'll be able to come and visit you guys when I want to relax and take my mind off of whatever my family is doing at the time."
That part was true, as she had asked Discord if it was possible to enchant a door with the power of his shortcut, and that had caused him to test her question out for himself and used a pair of double doors that were inside the van, no doubt taken down by Murray before they even started their mission against Le Paradox, as his test subject. Their test had worked, as the door was now a personal gateway to Equus, and Gilda intended to install it somewhere inside the gang's safe house, that way if she was too stressed out after a mission she could come back here and relax, or at least spend time with Derpy and Diz. The only reason she didn't mention this to her siblings, even if they weren't true siblings, was because they both looked happy to be back in their old lives, even if all of this was new for Diz since he didn't have any memories of this world like she and Derpy did, and she wasn't about to force them to come with her.
"Now who said you could leave without us?" a voice asked, to which Gilda and Rainbow turned their heads to the side and found both Derpy and Diz standing near them, both carrying their packs and their canes on their backs, like they were planning on leaving as well, though she could tell that it was Diz who had spoken.
"Derpy, Diz... aren't you guys happy with your new lives?" Gilda asked, because she never thought that they would actually come seek her out when she tried to leave, especially since both of them seemed to be happy with what they had discovered recently.
"Of course we are, but it wouldn't be the same without you." Derpy said, to which she and Diz walked toward the van and set their packs inside, showing that both of them were committed to heading back to the other world that they had called home, "Discord told Diz what he did for you, since he figured there was no harm in telling his son about what you had planned, and Diz apparently set up a schedule that he'll abide by to continue to learn what he needs to learn for his eventual takeover as the God of Chaos."
"Dad says that I have a lot to learn before that happens." Diz added, to which he smiled for a moment, showing that he cared more about being with them than being with the being that was his father, though he was happy to hear that he wasn't intentionally abandoned at that orphanage like he, and everyone else, originally thought he was, "And to be honest I like being the 'Prince of Chaos'... being the 'God of Chaos' sounds like too much work and not nearly enough fun, though it seems that my decision to do this might be for the best, since he's so good at what he does."
Gilda did have to admit that Discord was good at being the God of Chaos for their universe, even if he had revealed that he had accidentally knocked both her and Derpy to Sly's world when he was tinkering with the magical mirror that Star Swirl had left behind, the same one that Sunset had apparently gone through at one point in the past. She guessed that Discord was happy to have found a replacement for him, so he could eventually retire when Diz reached the point where he would take on the mantle of the God of Chaos, and it seemed like he agreed with his son's actions, since he wasn't even trying to stop them. In the end, however, she eventually sighed and realized that there was no stopping her siblings from changing their minds and staying here, as they were committed to heading back to Sly's world with her and weren't going to take no for an answer, though she was happy to have them beside her once more. Together the three of them climbed into the back of the van, after making sure that Rainbow knew that all three of them were leaving this world for a time, before surprising the rest of their family with their decision.
Once everyone was ready Discord appeared in front of the van, which was still parked outside Ponyville, and opened another tear in reality, one of his shortcuts, before heading inside, showing them that he intended to make sure they arrived at their destination before coming back to Equus, to which Murray smiled as he drove the van into the tear and headed back to the world they had come from.
It didn't take a long time to get through the shortcut, mostly because taking forever would have defeated the purpose of calling it a shortcut and the fact that Murray knew what he was doing this time around, before they arrived outside the museum that Le Paradox had owned, which seemed to be in the process of having things moved out of it. Upon their arrival Discord bid them farewell and dived back into the tear that they had come out of, which sealed behind them and disappeared like it had never been there before, though the gang paid it little mind as Murray drove them back to their safe house. The plan was to contact Secretary Sen and tell him the news, since he had to be surprised by the sudden arrival and disappearance of Nefarious, and then, once their contact knew that Gilda, Derpy, and Diz were staying with them, for the most part, Sly and Carmelita were going to head home and try to return to their ordinary lives until the Cooper Gang was needed. Fortunately the safe house was nearby, meaning that the drive to the building was quick and Murray was able to park them in the safety of the parking area that came with the building, before he turned off the engine and they headed inside the building, finding that it was intact and that nothing had been damaged.
As such Bentley and Penelope went to work making sure their communicator, which would allow them to chat with Secretary Sen face to face, was still operational, though Sly found that the Thievius Raccoonus, which had been entrusted to their contact once Carmelita's parents had been kidnapped with the kids, had been returned to them, causing him to smile before the lights dimmed and contact was made once more.
"I was wondering when I was going to hear from you again, Cooper Gang." Secretary Sen said, though while his tone suggested that this was going to be a serious conversation, like every other time he talked to them in the past, but at the same time the gang knew that he was happy to see that they were alright, "How was your vacation?"
"We learned about the place that we came from, who Diz's father is, and a number of other things." Derpy replied, as there were some bits of information that they would share with Secretary Sen, and some bits that they definitely wouldn't share with him and the others, but at the same time she noticed the telltale sign in their contact's eyes, a sign that Sly and Carmelita recognized as well, "Did something happen since we left?"
"It seems that there is one other inmate that escaped during Le Paradox's mission to break out Neyla and Arpeggio, someone that you all have a history with." Secretary Sen stated, to which the image expanded and a picture of the Contessa appeared in front of them, causing Sly to frown and Carmelita to growl in annoyance, "It appears that she's on the move in Prague once more, and this time she's formed her own gang, the Black Widow Gang, who have already done a number of crimes in Prague, the United States, and a number of other locations, stealing a number of priceless treasures... ones that are sorely missed by their rightful owners. And, following the tradition of most criminal gangs having five or six members, there are five other targets, lesser criminals that she's enlisted to aid her in her crimes, that will need to be taken out so we can understand what sort of plan she's trying to set in motion this time around."
"Wouldn't put it past her to try and hypnotize an entire city so she can rule over it, or something like that." Carmelita remarked, because that was what Arpeggio had wanted to use her frequencies for, so he could create a hypnotic light show of hate to empower Clockwerk's seemingly lifeless body for his own purposes, before they grew serious as Bentley and Penelope started picking their stuff back up, "Okay, where's the first member of this Black Widow Gang?"
"Lady Nokara, one of the few remaining sphinx in the world, was last seen in Cairo, Egypt." Secretary Sen replied, to which the gang raised their eyebrows for a moment, as the mention of a sphinx was an interesting one, especially since there might be some magic involved at the beginning of their newest adventure this time around, "Don't worry, I'll be sending Inspector Hopps to the area as well, so she'll be ready to arrest her target when your operation is successful and you've secured whatever treasure she's stolen."
Sly and the gang smiled as they accepted the assignment, or unofficial mission as it was more commonly known as, before the connection was terminated, though as they started heading back to the van Bentley and Penelope started receiving all the information that Secretary Sen had on their first target... and as they drove away from their safe house they were happy to be back in business, to show the Contessa that she shouldn't underestimate the Cooper Gang, while both Gilda and Derpy were happy for what the future held.