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Sly Cooper: Band of Animals

Chapter 4

"OK fellas, the dominos are all in place; time to pull off the big heist. First, Murray will help me break into the old water tower. From there, I should be able to shut down the plaza fountain. Dimitri's sure to send someone out to get the repair truck. Nifty, you'll pickpocket the trucks keys off this guy once he shows up then hand them off to me and Murray in the plaza. We'll go steal the truck while Sly climbs to the top of the nightclub peacock sign. Once you're in position, Murray will fire the truck's winch line up to you and we'll use it to pull down the sign. If my calculations are correct the impact should create an entrance to the printing press room. Then, Sly, you jump in, grab the Clockwerk tail feathers and we all get the heck out of here!"

Once Bentley was done briefing us on the plan we all moved out to our positions. I watched from the roof of the Safe House as Murray tossed Bentley up onto the blocked entrance of the water tower. He set a bomb down and blew up the blockage before getting tossed back up. It was not very long before I heard the spray of the fountain disappear. I turned and headed towards the nightclub. I waited on a nearby roof and watched a warthog guard walk out.

"All right, Nifty, you're up!" Bentley said. I followed along on the roof and waited for the two guard rats to wander away before jumping down and pickpocketing the keys.

"Here!" I tossed the keys at Murray.

"Thanks pal. C'mon Bentley, let's head for the repair truck!" Murray ran ahead with the turtle hot on his heels.

"Get up onto one of the roofs. You can keep lookout from there." I watched Sly climb safely to the top of the peacock sign before heading over to one of the building's roofs.

My ears swivelled in the direction of the repair truck as it drove up to the plaza. I could hear Murray's instructions to Sly boom from the speaker on the truck. I watched him shoot the winch line up to Sly who caught it and attached the grapple to the peacock's beak. He then slid down the line and landed on the truck.

"Guys, the guards are onto us! Protect the truck!" I jumped down from the roof and tackled one of the guard rats, knocking him to the pavement. I straightened up and saw Sly taking care of three rats with his cane. He was too busy to notice two more sneak up behind him. I rushed forward and knocked both their heads together. They fell to the ground, out cold.

"Thanks!" he said. I grinned and headed back towards the truck. I spotted a fairly large rat getting ready to smash the back of the truck with a baseball bat. I narrowed my eyes and jumped onto the hood of the car. Bentley let out a surprised yell that echoed through the speaker as I rolled over the top of the truck and lunged at the rat. He was taken completely by surprise, the bat flying out of his hand as I tackled him to the ground. A few more rats later and the peacock sign crashed into the fountain. Water and cement flew everywhere as a large hole revealed the printing press room.

"Behold the majesty of gravity and inertia!" Bentley said, throwing his arms up in victory.

"That was real subtle, Bentley." Sly said as I stifled a giggled.

"OK, you jump in, grab the Clockwerk tail feathers, and we're out of here!" Sly nodded and jumped into the hole.

"Oh, can I go with him?" I asked. "Just in case he needs backup?"

"Alright, just stay out of his way unless he asks for your-"

"Bentley! We've got guards comin' from all over the place!" Murray exclaimed, jumping out of the truck. Bentley and I turned to see rat guards coming from everywhere. They surrounded the whole plaza.

"This isn't right," said Bentley. "Nifty, go check on Sly! Something's wrong!" I nodded and leaped in after the racoon.

oooOOOooo

I looked up and spotted Sly and Dimitri as I entered the main area of the printing press room. The Clockwerk tail feathers were attached to some money making machine that was very loud and hurt my ears.

"Gah! So… Racoonus Doodus- you're like totally bumming my house up and bringing down. So very uncool. Why can't you just let birds and bees be free, bro?" I almost laughed at Dimitri's vocabulary. I loved it! Maybe I should start talking like that…

"Listen Dimitri- you have no idea what you're playing with- it'll bring more than your house down…" Sly said seriously.

"Listen, bro. I see that you are a tough cowboy… A man with taste… style… vision… a connoisseur of finer things. Like me." I snorted. "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," said Sly, taking a step forward. "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-"

"Yeah, Sly!" I yelled out loud. They both turned and saw me. "Oops…" I covered my mouth.

Dimitri bit down hard on his cigarette. "What is this with clocks, bro? 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!"

My ear twitched as I tried to figure out what Dimitri had just said. Sly seemed to be thinking the same thing when he said, "I have no idea what you're saying. And your suite sucks!" he added as an afterthought.

"Aiiiiiiiieeee! Let's dance!" Sly jumped into action as Dimitri disappeared to the other side of the room in a flash of purple powder. I was about to jump up to help when something pulled on my tail and sent me flying. I let out a pained yell as I hit the wall and slid to the ground.

"Nifty!" I opened my eyes and saw a giant black rat walking towards me. He had two little cronies on either side of him with evil smirks on their ugly faces.

"Bonjour, ma fleur magnifique." the rat said. I made a face and stuck my tongue out. Did he just call me a beautiful flower?

Instead of answering I spat at his feet then rolled to my left. I stood up unsteadily and glared at the rats. The cronies glared back, their teeth bared, while the big one let out a hearty laugh. He walked towards me and put his gnarled looking hand up to stop his followers. Letting out a warning growl, I back up until I bumped into one of the support poles that kept the glass floor the printing press was on up.

"You're a feisty one, aren't you?" he said, grinning.

"Don't call me feisty, you old sewer swimmer." I growled. His eye twitched but he kept his composure. "Who are you anyways?"

"Ah, don't you remember me, ma cheri? I am the one who saved you from being electrocuted!" He says it as if it's obvious. Damn rat.

"The story I heard was that I was saved from your cronies." I said, looking for a way to escape. The rat laughed bitterly and took another step closer. I pressed my back closer to the pole in an attempt to put some distance between me and his horrible garbage breath.

"They get excited, c'est tout." he said innocently. I gagged in response and tried to run away but the rat grabbed my arm and pulled me close to him. I wanted to heave as my muzzle got pushed into his thick greasy fur. It smelt like garbage mixed with Clout's dirty hockey gear and the washroom in 'Burrito Land' after the lunch time rush-hour. Trust me, you don't wanna know.

"Geddoff me!" I demanded, struggling in his grip. The rat snickered and buried his nose in my neck fur.

"Didn't you hear here? She said get off!" I gasped for breath as the rat was sent staggering back. Sly grabbed me around the waist and jumped back a few feet. I looked up and saw the rat's hand clutching the right side of his face. He glared at us, his yellow eyes on fire.

I let out a warning growl when he started to advance towards us. I was fully aware that Sly still had his arm around me and I was wary but there were more important things to worry about at the moment. I flinched slightly as the racoon's grip tightened and he jumped back just in time for us to dodge a punch from the rat. The floor that we were just standing on was smashed to bits and his punch left a small crater. Was there a chance he was stronger than Murray?

"Get back here you Cracker-Box!" yelled Dimitri, waving his gun around. I slipped out of Sly's hold and put some space between us.

"You focus on Dimitri," I said in answer to his questioning glance. "You need to get those tail feathers. And don't worry about sewer breath here. I can handle him."

"Be careful." he said I nodded and we jumped apart as Dimitri fired a shot at us.

"I'll snap you and that pretty faced racoon in half!" the rat exclaimed, pounding his fist into his hand.

"Come at me bro!" I said cockily. "Vous êtes juste un nageur d'égout faible!"

Roaring in anger, he charged at me. Luckily his large build restrained him from running too fast and I was able to dodge his punch. His cronies tried to attack me but I easily took them both out with a hard punch in the gut and knocking the other's head into one of the support poles.

"You're all alone," I said. "No cronies to back you up."

I pricked my ears when I saw his mouth moving but nothing coming out. I caught snippets of French swears and let out a long whistle. He looked up and glared. I sent him a cocky grin and crossed my arms. This just sent him over the edge and he exploded with anger. I squeak and ducked when he picked up a glass table and threw it at me. It hit the wall and smashed into millions of pieces.

"Whoa, calm down!" I yelled, dodging a tank of weird green liquid.

"I'll kill you, you weasel!" he roared. I was taken by surprise when he charged at me and actually jumped up, turned, and hit me with his tail. I was sent flying right into Dimitri. He pushed me off him right into the rat's clutches. He wrapped his arm around my neck and I struggled but I knew it was useless, he could break my neck anytime he wanted; I was at his complete mercy.

"Let go of her!"

"Don't move or the lady gets it!" Dimitri said, pointing his gun at me. Sly stopped and glared at the lizard. I kept kicking and managed to get the rat where-the-sun-don't-shine and he squeak in pain, letting me go as he slid to the floor. Dimitri angrily face-palmed while I staggered over to Sly, coughing.

The lizard dropped his gun and made a break for the printing press. Sly ran after him and charged a goldish-coloured energy ball with his cane. He hit Dimitri and the lizard flew into the printing press. Ink and the Clockwerk tail feathers flew everywhere as the press broke and Dimitri was tossed in the waste bin beside it. His surprisingly still had his cigarette after all that. I had to give him points for that.

"You take Clockwerk tail feathers and my counterfeiting operation, it's past tense." Dimitri said in anguish.

"I'm doing you a favor. What kind of thief prints money?... there's no honor in that." Sly said, shaking his head.

"You… Cracker-Box! Ahh…" I snorted at Dimitri's insult and went over towards the hole that the peacock statue made.

"Sly! Grab the tail feathers so we can get out of here!" I yelled. The Racoon picked up the feathers just as Bentley and Murray entered the room. We made it up to the catwalk overlooking the whole operation. The printing press was ruined and Dimitri and the rat were taken care of.

Sly and the gang had done it. The Clockwerk tail feathers were theirs and Dimitri's counterfeiting operation was 'past-tense'. Due to the untimely arrival of Carmelita, our escape got a little tricky. Not to mention she crashed a police truck through the wall of the building. Angry at having just missed Sly, she took it out on Dimitri; shutting down the nightclub and throwing the frustrated forger behind bars. We headed out of town for a week in Monoco. Sly figured the team earned themselves a well-deserved break and I had to agree with that one.

I don't know if I like this chapter very much, especially the fight between Nifty and the rat... Oh well, tell me how you like it and if I should rewrite it. So, tune in next time where we go to India and have Indian food! Yummy!