In a matter of seconds, Sly's plan backfired horribly and he found himself quickly freezing to death and drowning at the same time as he fell down an icy waterfall.
He wanted to scream for help, but didn't; instead covering his mouth with shaky hands. As he fell down the damn-long waterfall, he struggled to stick his face out from the water and pulled out his Binocucom, calling Bentley.
"Sly? Sly, what's the matter?" Bentley asked. He noticed the Binocucom was projecting Sly falling pretty fast from some great height. "Sly?!"
"B-B-Bentley...!" Sly chattered. "N-n-need h-help..!"
"What's going on, Sly?!"
Sly tried to push himself out of the current of the waterfall and did so successfully only to start falling faster toward the water below. He held tightly onto the wet Binocucom, it showing Bentley only his curled up legs when he curled into a fetal position to try warming himself.
"SLY!"
Sly expected to plunge into water, but was surprised when he landed in plush, warm arms. Too cold to care who it was, Sly dropped the Binocucom and was carried away by his savior.
On the Binocucom, though, Bentley saw that Sly's "savior" had been none other than the Panda King. "No!"
He growled from worry, hoping Sly would be okay. He really did want to go save Sly, but he and Sly had once had an off-screen discussion; Sly didn't *want* to be saved by Bentley. If Bentley tried to save him, someone'd probably find the van and steal the pages of the Thievius Raccoonus. Plus, Bentley wasn't all that great of a fighter, so if he took the pages with him, he might lose them without even being searched. The turtle just hoped Inspector Fox would show up right on time to save Sly as usual.
Carmelita sat on a chair, listening to some old records. She was completely preoccupied, and even forgot to check the clock. When she did check, she saw she was nearly half an hour late to go to Western China.
"Mierda!"
She grabbed her shock pistol WHICH AGAIN PACKED A PARALYZING PUNCH and her dishwater-yellow jacket before rushing out.
It didn't take Sly long to discover he'd been rescued by the Panda King, who barely had a chance to show off his Flame-Fu. He was sat down in the shrine. Panda King soon handed him the pages of the Thievius Raccoonus. "Take them. Your determination is respectable."
"Thank you." Sly said, pulling out a calling card and giving it to Panda King as he slipped the pages into his backpack; not caring that the pages might get a wet. He stood, chittering from cold. He saw a police helicopter from Paris flying over head and pondered about whether he should stay to see Carmelita or not. He decided against it and ran off, Panda King waving a little.
Gradually freezing, Sly's limbs were stiff so he could hardly run, but he managed to get back to the van. He opened the door and got in, shivering. "Bentley, let's get out of here!" He called.
There was no response.
"Bentley?" Taking off his backpack and holding it in one hand while holding his cane in the other, Sly walked out again hesitantly. He glanced around the side of the van to see if Bentley was maybe working on the engine, and suddenly all he saw was fire as a loud ringing noise took over his ears. He closed his eyes and was thrown back, hitting a 'wall' and then falling mutely to the ground, dropping his backpack but not the cane.
Bentley sat up and rubbed his head, groaning. He opened his eyes and looked for the van. All he saw were the flaming ruins of what had once been the getaway van.
"Darn!" He remembered, though foggily, what had happened. He'd stepped outside to check the engine to make sure it hadn't frozen over, when suddenly this creature swooped over him. The engine seemed to react to that and suddenly combusted, and shortly after the entire van must have exploded.
Bentley stood and sighed, thinking about how Sly would take this. He looked to his left and his turtle heart almost stopped.
Sly's backpack lay slightly tattered in the snow, calling cards scattered and the bag itself open.
"... S-Sly?"
There were no pages in the bag, but on top sat a slightly cut-up looking calling card. Bentley hesitantly picked it up and gasped when he flipped it open.
A message had been carved into it in owl dialect.