Ch29: Octavio's OPERAtion

"I really don't like what this guy is up to..." Neyla frowned as we got a job from Bentley to blow up the ads for Octavio's opera performance that would take place on the first day of Carnivale. Why he decided to get back at Venice using tar in the water was anybody's guess, but I could tell that we had to do a lot of running. Bentley gave us a bomb with a short fuse and gave us it to blow up the first one. We did so in quick fashion, blowing it up and barely getting out of the way for the explosion.

Once we successfully blew up the moorings for the first balloon, we went back to Bentley and got the second bomb, which had a much longer fuse. "Okay... where do we run with this one?" Neyla asked as the fuse got lit. I immediately bolted for the direction of the balloon by the large water fountain by the sign. "We're gonna blow up the last balloon, girl," I frowned, not wanting to call her by name as wounds were still deep.

"What's with not calling me Neyla?" growled the purple-furred tiger in my head. "I'm still angry about what you did," I frowned, an image of Bentley appearing in my head. "O-Oh... Now that I think about it, yeah... that wasn't a fair move..." she frowned. I ignored her and latched the bomb to the moorings, jumping out of the way as the big bang happened. "Haha! The whole phase 2!" Bentley exclaimed. "The balloon, carried by the wind, will impact on the Octavio sign! The combustible gasses in the balloon will ignite and BAM! Hindenburg part 2!"

It was soon ended as the balloon got caught in the sign. "Yeah... not a problem..." I groaned, jumping up the the top of the sign and slicing off not only the arms that held the balloon down, but the face as well, the sign no more as it exploded as we jumped down. "Whoa! Looks like we, huh? S-Sorry sir, we're currently clo-" Bentley exclaimed. I bolted down and over the buildings, getting back to Bentley's location as quick as I could. "Sylvia! Get back here! QUICK!" he yelled. "Sylvia! He's crazy! I got him locked out but- OH NO!"

That was when I turned invisible and jumped on top of Octavio's head, obvious surprise showing on the old guy's face. "Whuh? I... feel something on me..." he frowned, touching my furry feet and then my hips. "Hey! Paws off, grampa!" I exclaimed, jumping off of him and revealing myself along with the eye. "What? I don't recognize you... and what's with that creepy eye on ya?" he asked, looking generally confused as I blocked the door for Bentley's sake. "You wanna take someone? Take me," I growled. "Oh? Why would I want a cat with pink eye? It's not like your with that cracked little gang!"

"Yeah, I'm not letting you get at Bentley, punk," I growled. "I'll go with you myself. After all, I DID just destroy all your precious advertising signs. Bentley couldn't do that, now could he?" Octavio growled at the realization and grabbed onto my arms, lifting me up and over his head. "Sylvia! NO!" Bentley cried out. "Trust me, Bentley, I know what I'm doing," I frowned, letting Octavio run off with me and take me back to his opera house.


"I don't really think the blindfold is needed, guys," I frowned when they put me in some kind of cramped room with a blindfold on. "I can still see all of you from my robot eye. For instance, you're a cat with a white mask and you're a giant bird. Right?" The guards growled and removed the blindfold after that. It was then that I saw that I was in Octavio's office. And I was in a cage. 'Why did you do that?!' Neyla growled in my brain. 'That WASN'T part of the story!' 'Trust me. I think I have a plan on how to help them out from the inside.'

"That's enough my boys," Octavio said, moving them out of the way to show his old, ugly mug. Even with the mask, he still had obvious wrinkles. "So, mi amore... why give your-a-self up so easily? Unless you have-a something to offer me, I'm afraid you'll be fed to the polluted waters." "Not until you tell me why you think destroying Venice is the best way of revenge!" I growled. "Because I-a want to make-a them opera fans again! You have a death wish if you say my plan isn't foolproof!" When he said that, I growled, looking at his guards and activating the eye with Neyla's permission.

The guards fell for it and were under my control, the two dancing like ballerinas with green, swirly eyes. "What are you boys doing?" Octavio asked them. "They're falling for our spell, Don," I smirked, snapping my fingers and the two falling asleep on the ground. "Hmph! What do you mean by 'our?' Is there someone else in there with-a you?"

"Well... if you count being in this eyeball, then yes," Neyla said, which made Octavio's eyes raise up. "And I can do the EXACT same to you, bub. I can assure you that the longer you keep me around, the more issues you'll have outside of this place. Also, I am with the Coopers. I'm just the best of them. For example..."

I then activated time stopper. While they were all frozen up, I took a single claw from my finger and picked the padlock, opening the cage and turning invisible. I ran out the window and smashed it in the process, leaving a pink calling card on Octavio's floor as a final blow to his pride. "YOU BITCH!" he exclaimed as I ran down the streets and made it to the Safehouse within seconds.

I did a funny knock on the door and waited for the gang to open it. "Bump, Badda, Bump, Bump. Dingdong!" the door sounded as I finally gave up and just picked the lock myself, entering the Safehouse to find the whole of the gang ready to attack, but immediately stopped when they saw it was me. "Sylvia!" Sly exclaimed, giving me a hug. The firmness of it not only made me blush, but also made me realize how worried he'd been. "Ahem!" Neyla growled, Sly stopping when Neyla grunted.

"I happened to get some intel about Don Octavio while I looked into his brain," she said, the eye projecting an image of Don Octavio as if it were one of Bentley's computers. "He apparently happens to be planning on destroying Venice until everyone likes opera again. And since everyone I know pretty much hates opera, that means Venice is bye-bye's unless we put a stop to him. That's why we need to strike bright and early in the morning, right when Octavio happens to be in preparation for the opera recital. Any questions?"

Nobody talked, mostly because it was rare to hear any kind of plan from Neyla. She apparently realized this by realizing my thoughts and frowned... at least that's the image she gave to me. "Listen, I can have ideas too, you know!" she exclaimed. "O-Okay..." Bentley gulped. "Okay then... it's time to begin Operation: Tar Be Gone!"