AN: Hey Guys! Chapter 9 the boss battle! Big operation time! Whoo! Okay but seriously I'm excited for this chapter! So, please let me know what you think about it!
They were all panting, tired from the chase, but glad they'd been able to help Bentley get out of the temple and the guards. Adrenaline still running through their veins they gathered the barrels that Bentley had requested, and settled down to wait for the turtle to tell them the plan. They could hear the guards still searching for them outside, setting all of them on edge. By the time they were ready to go the guards had stopped searching and night had fallen on the camp, coating everything in an oily blue black darkness.
"Alright... We've been compromised a bit, but my plan should work. It's time to pull Operation: Tomb Raider." Josephina grimaced as Sly snickered. "First Murray will disguise himself as a truck driver and swap out with one of the delivery truckers as they wait to be let into the camp. Once he's got a truck Sly and Josephina will take up positions inside a few of the barrels, and he'll drive them to the delivery plot at the back of the temple. The barrels should be taken into the main chamber. Once there, you two will jump out, set the charges I placed in the lamps we acquired from Gafar. The blast should be weak enough to knock the drill from its moorings but cause relatively little damage to the temple itself. Murray will run in, grab the drill and then we all get out of here before the cops can catch up with us."
"Sounds like a plan." Josephina said with a nod.
"What about us?" Nat frowned. "What do we do?"
"Wait in the van with me and do the homework Sly gave you." The twins groaned and dropped their heads onto the table. "Would you rather do the homework I'd give you?" Sly and Murray shared a look of panic and horror. Bentley's homework involved complex math equations and sixty page essays all mixed in with foreign languages and time limits. The twins caught Sly shaking his head vigorously and the look of panic in his eyes and immediately responded in kind. Few things set Sly on edge, but even the thought of the stress Bentley's homework assignments caused gave him a headache. "I didn't think so. Lets do this team, that drill won't take long to get to the cavern below the main chamber."
Murray left to get the truck, leaving the rest of them to deconstruct the tent and pack the van. Looking out over the dark evening sands Josephina could feel the anticipation in the air. She checked her shock pistol's charge and ensured her two other weapons were in their respective holsters before pulling the sword she'd taken from the museum out of her duffle bag. Giving it a swing she looked it over. The blade was sharp, the handle glittering with the diamonds, but it was a good sword.
"I think I'll keep you pet..." She muttered. "Such a pretty thing deserves some attention. Maybe a spot in my collection back home..."
"You collect swords?" Sly asked, startling her and nearly losing his nose as she spun to face him. Relaxing she returned the sword to its place in her duffle bag.
"Rare weapons actually. Old guns, daggers, swords... you name it. Their history is my favorite thing. Sometimes I wish they could talk back and tell me their stories."
"Well we've got plenty of lamps, maybe one's got a genie in it." Sly laughed.
"Oh like you don't talk to things sometimes."
"Not really..."
"I'm sure I could find proof somewhere."
"I have recordings of Sly singing to a diamond we repossessed a few years ago... One of these days I might actually have the chance to use that against him." Bentley smirked. Turning red Sly glared at Bentley for several long moments before Murray pulled up with the truck.
"Let's get loaded up quick before someone realizes what's going on." He called, placing the half dozen barrels in the back of the truck and helping Josephina and Sly take up their positions inside. "Next stop the loading bay. Hold on you guys, this road is kinda bumpy."
By the time Sly and Josephina were deposited in the main chamber, Josephina had been flipped on her head and was struggling to try and right herself. In her struggle she managed to tip the tower of barrel barrels over resulting in a rather forceful ejection from the confines of her hiding place as the end popped off. She rolled tail over muzzle, coming to a stop a short distance away from the drill.
"You alright over there?" Sly asked, pulling himself out of his hiding place with a small grin.
Rolling her eyes she stood and glared at him slightly. "I'm great thanks." He laughed and began to pull the lamps from the barrels still standing.
"Let's cause some havoc shall we?" A vicious grin took over her previously irritated expression.
"Oh let's." Setting the charges was easy, place the dozen or so lamps in a ring around the drill, connect them with the wire as Bentley instructed and then stand back so the turtle could detonate it from the van. Josephina and Sly took cover behind the barrels and gave Bentley the go ahead. There was a sharp crack as the explosives went off, followed by a deep rumbling and a series of smaller reverberations, and they had enough time to share panicked look before the floor crumbled beneath their feet. They hit the ground hard, but scrambled to their feet as chunks of stone fell around them. Pressed against the side of the cavern they were in they watched in horror as the drill rolled into an underground river.
"Oh that's just fantastic." Josephina moaned. "I'm going to guess you can't swim."
"Yeah... not really my area of expertise."
"Not really my thing either... I mean I can but I'd rather not if we can help it. So how are we going to get it?"
"Sly? Jose? What happened? The temple's collapsing in on itself!"
"We noticed... What did you put in those lamps?"
"Just some small combustibles... Where are you? Your reception is terrible."
"We're in a bloody cave under the main chamber! Your small combustibles were a lot stronger than you anticipated..."
"A cave? You should be in a treasure room..."
"Actually looking at the ceiling it was built this way... like it was sealed over or something... The floor of the main chamber was actually rather thin comparatively, what should have made only a dent was strong enough to blast through the floor, and I'm sure the drill didn't help the issue..."
"That sounds rather plausible... Given the temple's location and the surrounding area's cave systems, it must have had some sort of significance to the people who built it..."
Sly cut in with a small frown. "Bentley the drill fell in the river down here... And that explosion is sure to have attracted Carlotta..."
"We have no idea where that river goes Sly... Get out of there before Carlotta shows up! We'll figure out another plan to get the drill once she's gone."
"Too late..." Josephina nudged Sly and pointed to the hole above them. The hedgehog woman stood on the edge of the hole, arms folded over her chest.
"Well, well, what do we have here? Thieves? Trespassers? Destroyers of history?"
"Technically right now we're all three." Josephina gave a nervous sort of half laugh before realizing that sarcasm was likely to get them killed. Carlotta glared down at them then slid down one of the fallen pillars to be on the same level as they were.
"Why are you after me? I'm a business woman, nothing more."
"You're a thief, and part of the Klaww gang. You're in possession of a recently stolen Clockwerk part. You're not even the slightest bit innocent anymore."
"We can't let Clockwerk have even the slightest chance of being rebuilt." Sly added with his own glare. "Do you even realize what you have in your possession?"
"I have a tool made from some dead bird that will last me for the rest of my life." Calotta snapped. "And I will not have my hard work disrupted because some thieves are on a fools errand!"
"Well then I hope you can swim, because it's in the river." Josephina smirked as a look of horror spread over Carlotta's features and she glanced at the water. "We're not going to leave Carlotta, so why not just make this easier on yourself and get out of here. The cops are sure to show up any minute, if we move now we can all avoid a prison sentence."
"Ignorant fools! I wouldn't work with the likes of you even if it meant I'd get all the gold I could ever want! Seeing as there isn't any treasure chamber in this temple, then the only thing of value here is that beak. And because it's the only thing worth taking with me, I'll just have to make sure you can't get to it before I do." Josephina and Sly tensed as she pulled her whip from her hip and snapped it over her head. Sly leapt to the side narrowly managing to land on one of the floating barrels as Josephina took a running leap and landed on another.
"The river's fast but there looks like plenty of flotsam. If we can avoid falling in we should be fine." Several quill flew past Josephina's head and she yelped as she made a clumsy leap towards another barrel. "Okay, I forgot she has natural spears. We're going to have to get in close if we want to avoid getting skewered."
"Or shot, look out!" Sly leapt to a crate, as Carlotta fired a revolver at the place he'd been standing. "We need to work together to take her down." Josephina nodded, drawing her shock pistol and taking aim at the hedgehog woman.
"I'll try to stun her, you get in close and take her head on." Carlotta spun and threw another volly of quills at them. "Good luck with that."
"Gee thanks." Sly rolled his eyes and leapt over to another barrel. Taking a steadying breath Josie leveled her weapon and fired several rounds, hitting Carlotta square and giving Sly enough time to move to a platform with some moving room. Recovering Carlotta focused on Josephina again. Leaping between barrels, crates and bits of wood, Josephina managed to stay ahead of the quills being thrown at her, and get off several shots that allowed Sly to get to the same platform as Carlotta. Her whip snapped at him, narrowly missing him as he jumped to the side.
Josephina watched Sly fight, following his movement as close as she could. He was agile and quick, leaping away from the attacks directed at him with ease and using his cane to bridge the gap between himself and Carlotta without having to move close enough to be impaled on her spines. A few grazed him as Carlotta knocked him away. Josephina turned to look down the river and gasped as she spotted a small overhang.
"Sly duck!" He glanced back at her in confusion before spotting what she had and ducking away from the overhang just in time to avoid it. Carlotta was not so lucky. The overhang caught her, knocking her into unconsciousness, and she fell back with a splash into one of the barrels. Painting, wet and cold, Sly and Josephina shared look before she caught sight of the drill in the water. She yanked the battered metal contraption out of the cold water and held it up for Sly to see. He grinned, giving a thumbs up. The river slowed to a crawl and they carefully made their way to a larger platform.
"So... stuck in an underground river... That's a new one for me I gotta say..." She smirked, looking at the ceiling of the cave.
"Yeah, same here. I've been in worse positions but... this is a new one." Sly laughed. "I lost my earpiece in the fight. Is yours still functional?"
"I think so... Bentley, can you hear me?" Static fizzled and snapped in response, drawing a moan from Josephina. "No good. Mine's either dead, we're too far underground or we're out of range. This has to let out somewhere right? I mean... if we just- Is that moonlight?" Sly glanced to the side of the river to see a soft white glow coming from a small bank.
"It's worth a look... Should we bring Carlotta?"
"Leaving her would be wrong." They maneuvered their platform and Carlotta's barrel to the bank and Sly pried the beak off the drill case with his cane before they moved up to the source of the light, which was in fact a small cave mouth. "Would you look at that... back in the camp... The river must wrap around this area." Sly nodded.
"Which means we can leave Carlotta to Carmelita and get to the van." He gestured with his cane to the waiting van and grinned.
Carmelita and the team spread out through the camp. Trista was following the river to see if they had gone down it to escape but had yet to report, Lindsey was taking the dig holes, Aline was slipping through the tents, Hel was going through the temple's remains, and Carmelita stood at the place Cooper's tent had been standing just hours before. There were tire tracks in the sand but they were driven over by other trucks that had left as the temple collapsed.
"Damn it Cooper..." She hissed under her breath. A shout drew her attention from her thoughts and she looked for the source. Aline stood a short distance away from the edge of the tent camp and waved frantically at Carmelita.
"I found Carlotta! And a cave. This barrel looks wet, I bet this is where Sly and Josie came out of the river!" Carmelita jogged to the cave entrance and glared at Carlotta. Thanks to Josephina they had enough information on the woman to arrest her.
"Cuff her and we'll take her in. I'll see what's down there..." Aline nodded as Carmelita slid down the steep path into the cave. The sound of water echoed around her, bouncing off cave walls as she flicked on her flashlight. As she neared the edge of the river she found debris. Trista appeared slipping out of the water and shaking out her hair.
"I've followed the river until I couldn't anymore. This is one of a dozen exits along the way, but I think this is probably where they came out. It's closest to the camp and the first one outside of the temple itself." Trista shrugged.
"Good to know, let's get out of here. We need to be ready to follow Cooper. Get a hold of Josephina if at all possible."
"You got it. I'll let you know any changes in Josie's report."
So there you go the first operation as a team of six... well technically only four of them actively participated but still... I had to shift some things around for continuance's sake so the next level is actually Rajan's Ball! So look forward to dapper Coopers and damsels in dresses!
