New chapter! This part takes place during Episode 3, Operation: Wet Tiger of Sly 2. In this chapter, there's a little more focus on the rest of the characters so that I can follow the game a little better. Good? Bad? I dunno, you tell me. In any case, there'll be more Sly and Carmelita next chapter, I promise. Disclaimer: while it may surprise you, I in fact do not own Sly Cooper or any of the characters portrayed in this story.

With a loud grunt, Murray threw the last guard into the air and punched him over the waterfall. His face was covered with sweat, and his breathing was heavy after an intense brawl with the small army that guarded the Elephant's Mouth.

"Okay guys, we're all clear down here."

"Nice work, Murray. Now put those muscles to the test and pry that thing open."

"Sure thing, Sly. Bentley, how are things up there?"

From the top of the tower, Bentley felt a lump growing in his throat as he looked into the sky. The sounds of high-flying patrol craft were giving him the chills; given the order, they would most likely drop ordnance anywhere in the temple grounds in order to stop any assaulters. And with that in mind, the intercom sparked to life, and Rajan's voice could be heard throughout the grounds.

"Alert! The temple facade is under assault! Put down this attack!"

As the intercom went silent, a series of mines began falling from the sky, dropped from the patrol planes circling above. Bentley could barely make out the mines from where he was, but they were most certainly mines; each hunter-seeker glowed with a dim yellow light and floated down by parachute.

While Bentley was beginning to panic, Murray was worried too and interrupted with another question through the binocucom.

"Bentley? Is everything okay?"

Bentley swallowed hard, and composed himself. Never before had he performed a task of this magnitude out in the field before, and on top of the stress of the task itself, he knew that the team was relying on him to do this. His adrenaline levels were through the roof, and he could feel the pressure squeezing his shell. Regardless, he let out a big breath and chambered the chopper's guns. "Don't worry about it, Murray. I've got you covered up here. Just concentrate on getting the mouth open."

"Okay, I'll get to work."

Murray began lifting the lever, straining hard against it. It would take some time to get it open, and there was no time to waste.

Meanwhile, Bentley aimed the guns at the first mine, and squeezed the trigger as hard as he could. His tiny frame rocked back and forth as the bullets spewed from the red-hot barrels.

Sly looked up into the sky, watching it fill with tracers and explosions as his friend detonated the mines in mid-air. Pieces of debris were falling everywhere, and he watched as guards from all over the temple rushed around in frenzied confusion trying to dodge the falling scrap metal.

"Guys, I need a sit-rep. These guards are gonna reorganize themselves soon, and I don't want to be walking around in the bomb when they come after us. I'd like to stay in one piece if at all possible."

Up in the tower, Bentley let go of the trigger as the last mine exploded, watching the smoke rise up from the barrels.

"Whew. Yeah, all clear from my position. Murray, how are you coming on that lever?"

With one final push, the lever raised all the way and the mouth opened with the sound of grinding stone. Wiping his brow, Murray fumbled with the mic for a moment and then said, "The Murray's might and muscle... triumph again! Sly, you're all clear to bring in the Cherry Bomb 500."

"Great work big guy, I'll be there in a minute. Be ready to bolt once this thing is lit."

Walking up the winding steps and stopping for the occasional passing guard, Sly eventually made it up to the door that was keeping the water from flooding the temple grounds. Murray stood by the entrance, watching as Sly set the bomb next to the door. The raccoon gave his friend a look and asked, "Alright big guy, you ready to blow this thing up?"

"Hell yeah!"

"Alright, on three. One... Two... Three!"

Sly jumped out of the barrel and the two friends ran as fast as they could to get clear of the blast. A few seconds later, the deafening sound of an explosion rang in their ears, quickly followed by the sound of rushing water.

Bentley watched from the tower as the water flooded the area at a terrifying rate, sweeping away the lucky guards and drowning the rest that were unable to get clear of the torrents. As the water rose up, he realized that he wasn't going to be able to get down from the tower to help his friends jump Rajan. They would have to secure the the other half of the Clockwerk heart on their own.

As soon as Sly and Murray had gotten to the high grounds of the grotto, the temple doors opened. Rajan stepped slowly out of the shadows, his face rippling with anger and veins popping out of his head. In his claws, he held a staff with half of the Clockwerk heart crudely tied to one end. One look at the floods, and he let out a booming roar, and leaped to the top of the temple.

"Black clouds and thunderbolts! 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 mighty Rajan, Lord of these hills!"

Murray snickered, and Sly twirled his cane with amusement.

"Boy, when we try to tick someone off, we really do the job."

Something hit the ground behind them with a thud, and when they turned around, Neyla was standing there with a mischievous look on her face.

"Yes... You do have quite a talent for it, don't you?"

Sly smiled and raised an eyebrow.

"Constable Neyla? Slumming it with the thieves again?"

She put on a serious face, and pointed her whip at the angry tiger roaring from the temple roof.

"That man is a menace, and he needs to be brought to justice."

"Listen, all I'm after is the Clockwerk part. You help me take him down, and the bust is all yours."

"Deal. Just try to keep up."

Neyla jumped on top of the walkway that led to the temple entrance, hopping onto the stakes that protruded from the ground, and Sly followed her up. Rajan watched the two as they leapt into view, and his mouth formed a twisted smile. Raising his staff into the air, the gang watched as the bolt of lightning struck down from the heavens, hitting the Clockwerk heart and flew down the walkway. Sly flinched as he felt the electricity singe the fur on his face as it passed the stakes next to him.

Jumping from stake to stake, Sly and Neyla dodged the lightning strikes and eventually made it to the base of the roof where Rajan was standing. Now was the time to take him down.

"Neyla, now!"

But she didn't move. Instead, she shrugged and gave Sly a deceitful smile.

"Sorry." She leapt off of the building, and began running. Rajan turned his head to Sly, and raised the staff to strike.

"What are you doing?!"

With a loud crack, Sly saw a blinding light fill his vision and felt a split second of pain just before everything went dark.

Carmelita was studying a mass of evidence and reports that had been laid out on the back of her Jeep. It was all that she could do; currently, without enough information on the spice temple that they had found, the officers higher up in Interpol hadn't authorized any sort of action. Typical. Leave it to the pen-pushers to wait around for the criminals to run.

But then she thought of Sly, and what had happened at the ball back at the palace. She frowned, and scrunched her face when she tried to make sense of it. What happened? Despite all of her efforts over the years to catch up to him, when she finally did, all of her efforts were thrown away the moment he took her hand. It gave her a warm but guilty feeling in her stomach.

Anyway, Cooper got away with the wings that night, and that meant that once again, she was feeling the repercussions. The Contessa (damn that witch), after the failure in India to reclaim the wings, didn't trust Carmelita with the underhanded recon mission that she wanted to conduct. So of course, with no one else around, that privilege went to Neyla.

Carmelita made a disgusted face. Neyla may have been her temporary partner, but she had a bad feeling about her. She was a prick about everything, and had to argue with every single statement that Carmelita made. But it wasn't those things that tipped her off; there was something else there that just seemed off. Inspector Fox couldn't put her finger on it, though. Instead, she kept looking through the files before her. More likely than not, Rajan had more Clockwerk parts here with him. And if the palace had told her anything, it meant that Sly was probably here too.

Suddenly, there was a rustling in the bushes. Carmelita instinctively drew her shock pistol and she aimed it at the foliage, her finger hovering over the trigger. With a loud crash, Neyla came sprinting out, breathing heavily and with her whip in hand. Sighing, Carmelita lowered her weapon.

"What did you find?"

"Rajan... and... Sly Cooper..."

Carmelita's heart skipped a beat when she heard Sly's name. But she kept a straight face and kept asking questions.

"Where?"

"By the grotto... I was able to knock them out, but the water was rising rapidly- they flooded the area-"

The Contessa stepped out from her own vehicle and came over to the other two officers. Carmelita was taken aback; Neyla had incapacitated Rajan? And Cooper?

"How did you-" she began incredulously.

The Contessa held up a spiny hand, and interrupted her.

"Inspector Fox, that is not important right now. Time is of the essence. Quick, Neyla, take us to them. They must be arrested as soon as possible."

Ten minutes later, Carmelita was jogging through a flooded temple following the other two officers, still confused as all hell as to what was happening. However, she maintained her composure and kept her mouth shut. Now was not the time to ask questions.

Coming up to the edge of the grotto, Neyla peered over the edge, and with one look, said "Happy day."

Carmelita stepped over to the edge as well and looked down, and the sight made her heart drop. Rajan was down, for sure, but so was Sly; he lay facedown and unmoving in the shallow water on the bottom. His friend Murray was waving his bloodied hands frantically, and yelled up at them.

"Neyla! Throw down a ladder, Sly's hurt real bad!"

But Neyla didn't answer. She had a twisted smile on her face, and Carmelita had to use all of her willpower to keep from blasting her partner and leaping down into the grotto herself.

"Can you hear me? I said Sly's hurt!"

"There they are, Contessa," Neyla said proudly. "Rajan and the Cooper Gang, all incapacitated, just as promised."

"Very good police work, Constable Neyla. Carmelita could never catch the Cooper gang, yet you manage to catch them in just a few short weeks!"

Whoa, whoa, hold up. Carmelita felt her face burning, and she started to say something.

"Well I never-"

But the spidery widow would hear none of it, and interrupted once again.

"Really, Carmelita, accept your defeat with some grace."

Neyla had something else to add though.

"Actually, Contessa... There's a good reason that Inspector Fox has never caught the Cooper Gang. She's been in league with them the whole time!" she said accusingly, pointing her whip at Carmelita.

Miss Fox felt herself filling with rage. That filthy liar. No way was she going to pin Carmelita as a dirty cop.

"Liar! ...prove it!"

Reaching into her pocket, Neyla pulled out a photo, and handed it to the Contessa. Wait... Was that...?

"That's a photo of Inspector Fox dancing with Sly Cooper, on the night that the Clockwerk wings were stolen."

All of a sudden, that rage had disappeared. Carmelita's face blanched with fear, looking over at the photo of her and Sly holding one another in front of the palace crowd. But... he was in disguise, using her, they couldn't possibly slam her for this... could they?

"But I- I didn't know I was dancing with Cooper-"

"You two certainly look... familiar in this picture. Guards, place Inspector Fox under arrest."

Carmelita looked at Neyla, who was smirking at her. Anger built up within her, but there was nothing she could do as the vulture guards came up behind her and prodded her with their crossbows.

"I'll get you for this, Neyla," growled Carmelita in a low voice. "Don't think I won't."

Thoughts? Let me know what you think! :)