Ch21: Tension in India

"I still don't understand why you decided to let your cover be blown so quickly!" Sly groaned in frustration as we made our way around the temple gates. It had been a long week of preparing for Rajan's palace, but that was what we needed in order to get by. "Hey, at least I managed to get the info I needed," I frowned. "Dimitri has proved to be QUITE cooperative on his word. He's been giving me intel on all of the Klaww gang's operations. And since I'm pretty much the only one who understands what he says, I feel I should get as much as possible."

Sly sighed and shook is head, a smile on his face. "Well, your a hell of a negotiator at least," Sly said. "Thanks bub," I smirked playfully. "And I think you do a pretty great job as leader of the gang." Sly smiled at that as well. "I have to give credit where credit is due at least." "Indeed."

Soon we were able to sneak up to the palace without being detected, Bentley pointing us up to the direction of the palace's balcony. "Think we can make it up there on these flimsy branches?" I asked on purpose. "Are you serious?" he asked me. "Nope. Complete sarcasm. Good ear."

We made it successfully up to the balcony within seconds, making us pretty pleased with ourselves. "Let's go in," Sly smiled. I forced a smile of my own, knowing what awaited us in there. And they would not believe their eyes.

Once we made it inside, Sly stayed in his area while I used the invisibility trick to actually sneak past the guards and take a photo from inside the area. "Psst... Sylvia... are you nuts?" Bentley asked over the Binocucom. I didn't care, however. My aim was already clear even if they didn't get it. "I'll be quiet as a blade of grass," I whispered back when I got to a high vantage point.

What was I doing right now? I was going to perform a great feat by climbing up to the upper levels with invisibility intact and manually gaining control of the electronic winch... good thing I happened to have perfected Bruce O Coop's hacking technique within minutes. 'If I can just get these...'I smiled in thought, taking jewels from a tray when NOBODY was looking. 'Now to do a massive leap...' I tucked my tail up and made a drastic leap of faith from the bottom of the statue to the electronic winch above.

"Um... Sylvia? What are you planning on doing up there?" Bentley asked me. We were out of earshot now so I could now speak in a hushed tone again. "Just trust me... I have a plan but I'll have to stay put here in order to do it... and Sly will need to lower the drawbridge, get a tuxedo, and dance with Carmelita." I didn't include the security chopper because, for some very odd reason, there wasn't one. Nor was there any surface-to-air defenses around the palace. "Hey! Who appointed you the brains of the outfit?" "Just trust me, Bentley. If this plan doesn't work, I'll be on kitchen duty for a month. Sound fair?" Bentley sighed heavily. "What is it you want?"

When Sly came back into the party, he was dressed in a gorgeous blue tuxedo, a virtual nobody recognizing him. "Sly... whatever you do, don't talk to Constable Neyla," I warned in the Binocucom. "um... why?" he asked in a whisper. "She knows I'm in your gang and I know some stuff about her that would make you shocked. Just focus on Carmelita. I've already contacted her myself and she agreed to help out... via acting."

"What do I do?" "Distract everyone in the ballroom by doing the tango with her. I'll lower myself on the winch in the meantime and cut the wings free, lifting them out with my iron grip. Once the song ends, Bentley will cover me with the RC Chopper. Once we get past the drawbridge, we punch it. Any questions?" "Nope. Just hope your plan works..." "It will. Trust me."

I smiled slyly (no pun intended) as Sly and Carmelita danced, Sly doing the moves near-perfectly. I could only smile as I lowered myself down from the electronic winch with Bentley's help. (I hacked it in less than twenty seconds, which shocked him to no end.) The crowd was completely entranced as the tango kept going. I proceeded to slice the moorings of the Clockwerk wings off of the statue, the wings actually proving quite a challenge to be freed. My jewels were near dust by the time I removed them.

I then started to repel back up, just making it back through the hole as the song ended. "Tell me stranger, what's your name?" Carmelita asked. I didn't know if I thought I just heard what I heard. D-Did I just hear them from all the way up here? "The wings! What happened to the Clockwerk wings?!" asked Rajan angrily. I then noticed something funny going on in my back pocket... 'But... the only thing in my back pocket is...' I smiled, knowing that, even though he wasn't doing it intentionally, Clockwerk was helping me out.

I finally made it back to the van after wave after wave of guard was knocked out by Bentley's chopper. I was surprisingly able to lift the wings, even though my arms weren't really built for carrying that much weight. (YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE HOW HEAVY THEY FELT IN THE PALACE!) "Punch it!" Murray exclaimed as we sped off and away from the palace, the wings and my sanity intact.

"I can't believe it, Sylvia!" Bentley and Sly exclaimed. "How'd you know that would work?!" "When I was in my world, I watched a lot of spy movies," I smiled, lying again. "There was one movie that looked exactly what we did in there and I thought, 'hey, if they can do it, so can we!'" "Well, seems that all of those movies you watched ended up saving our hides in the end," Sly smirked.

"Yeah! And I thought I was smart! You're in a whole league of your own! It takes me at least a day to think of a heist that crazy!" Bentley burst out. "Well, we did it together, as a team," I said to them. "And Murray?" I smiled, seeing how he wasn't really getting much in the way of action. "I have a feeling that when push comes to shove, you'll need to take on Rajan. It'll be a real test of muscle and I know you can handle it." "RIGHT!" he beamed at my words.

Hey guys! Bet ya didn't think the Clockwerk eyes could give off that kind of power, eh? Don't worry, they'll probably be implemented more in further chapters, since Sylvia's the only one that knows about 'em. Also... I would really appreciate any feedback from you, the people. If you read this far into the story, then I can tell that your'e hooked! Any feedback is welcome, so long as it isn't subject to cyberbullying. I have policies too y'know?!