A Thief's Tale
Chapter 29: Birthday
Lián's house, six days later…
Sly woke up silently before dawn and snuck out of the room not wanting to wake up the sleeping vixen. Sly snuck into Bentley's room, only he wasn't there. To his surprise, the turtle was asleep in the main room, in his wheelchair, slumped over a table.
"Bent, wake-up Bentley." Sly whispered causing the reptile to awake.
"Oh, hey Sly." Bentley said groggily, "Guess I fell asleep while I was working."
"Bentley, listen, its Carmelita's birthday, and the clock ran out." Sly said, "Please tell me the Shock Pistol you made for her arrived."
"Don't worry about it Sly." Bentley said starting to rub his eyes, "The shock pistol arrived late last night."
"Oh yes." Sly said silently.
"Yeah, the amazing thing is that the friend I was telling you about, he actually works for the company that provides Interpol with their shock pistols. So he knew exactly what to do."
"That's amazing." Sly said as Bentley handed him a fully wrapped package, "So it defiantly works?"
"Like a charm." Little did the two know, an invisible figure is watching from outside.
"Bingo." The figure said, "Now to tell Swords."
Torgiun's Lair…
Torigun uses the energy whips from his newest suit to cut clean through a stone pillar.
"Yes. This will do." Torigun said.
"But you still don't know where that infuriating raccoon is." Tsao pointed out.
"He will now." An unseen voice said as Lin rematerialized, "I found them."
"Perfect. Where?" Torigun asked.
"First, I want a deal." Lin said.
"What are you talking about? You are a Krav Krox now. You tell me when I ask." Torigun said.
"Yes, but I was a Shadow Dweller first. And I won't abandon the teachings." Torigun gave a scowl of disapproval while Swords simply grinned, "You don't make the deal, I won't reveal his location."
"Fine." Torigun said. "What is it?"
"I want you to swear that you won't harm the people you live in the house." Lin responded, "I know I can't ask you to only harm the Cooper, but I want those not in his gang to remain safe."
"They are providing help to the Cooper! I will not let them go without punishment." Torigun yelled.
"Then you don't get Cooper." Lin said sternly.
"Very well. You have my word."
"Good. You'll find Sly Cooper in the mountains of China." Lin started listing off the directions to Lián's house.
Lián's House…
Sly crept back into his and Carmelita's room to see the fox was still fast asleep. Sly grinned a bit.
"Wake up Carmelita." Sly whispered into Carmelita's ear. Carmelita slowly got up, "Morning there beautiful. Happy Birthday."
"Thanks Sly." Carmelita said, "Kinda surprised you didn't just leave my gift on a table or something like all the other years. You know, 'old habits die hard'?"
"Yeah, but I wanted to see your face when I gave you it." Sly handed Carmelita the box and she unwrapped it. Her eyes widened a bit when she saw it. It was a shock pistol, but not like her old one. The barrel was much narrower than the old one and two magnetic disks where above the handle. The handle itself was more like a standard firearm, heck the whole gun was. She also noticed that the barrel fanned out a little at the end.
"Wow." Carmelita said, so much effort went into the production of this weapon, it was amazing.
"Bentley designed it off some standard prints I stole." Sly said, "We made a few upgrades I thought would be helpful."
"What kind of upgrades?" Carmelita asked, she trusted Sly and the others, they wouldn't do something to harm her, but she still liked being informed.
"Well, from what I understood, those magnets energize the electrical energy so it travels faster and for longer without speed lost." Sly began to explain, "And it also gets a bit of a spin for more accuracy and Bentley said the slight fanning would give the rounds slight homing capabilities."
"I can't believe it." Carmelita said, "If only we had Bentley working with Interpol you'd never pulled off one heist."
"That's why I'm thankful he's on my side." Sly chuckled.
Lower Area of the Mountains…
Torigun phased out of the shadows in the lower area of the mountains. While Lin told him the exact location of the house, a strange magical aura of the mountain prevented his shadow teleportation from putting him at the door step. Torigun cursed silently under his breath.
"That chameleon will pay for not telling me about the aura." Torigun said, "But Cooper pays first." Torigun began to march up the mountain, one thought on his mind. The complete destruction of the Cooper name.
Lián's House…
After a few 'Happy Birthdays' from the rest of the gang, Carmelita was given a biocom of her own. To her, this was a sure marker that she was a part of the gang. The gang planned on doing the rest of the day just doing whatever, so Carmelita decided to try the new gear. Bentley and Penelope decided to help her test them while Sly watched from the sidelines.
"Okay, we'll test the biocom first." Bentley said, "I trust the guy who made the shock pistol that's why we'll save that for later."
"Makes sense." Carmelita said, "So how should I test this?"
"Well, since Bentley built it heavily of mine, I can explain the features." Sly said, "Stop me if I'm wrong Bentley, but you use the dial to zoom in on the center view. Use the center button to switch yours to inferred mode."
"I could have figured that out myself Sly." Carmelita said.
"Better safe than sorry." Sly said.
"He's right there." Bentley said, "Anyway, I had Penelope stash a few markers on the area down below us. Just read off the numbers of the ones you can find. Five total."
"To easy." Carmelita said looking though her biocom. She began to survey the area closely before talking. "Marker 1 is located near the fallen tree."
"Correct." Penelope said making a mark on a check board.
"Marker 2 is placed on the statue near the town."
"Correct again."
"Marker 3 is hidden amongst a small group of trees. Only seeable through the branches."
"Thought for sure you'd miss that one."
"Marker 4 is to the left of marker 3, found my following a low branch."
"Made that one too easy."
"And marker 5 is stashed in the branches of a tree to the right of marker 1."
"That's all of them."
"Alright, now just switch to inferred mode and tell me which marker has the heat signature." Bentley said. Carmelita followed the command and searched the areas.
"Marker 4."
"Right on the money." Penelope said. Carmelita turned off the biocom and placed it at her hip.
"Well, glad to see the inferred works. Was a little worried about that." Bentley said.
"I wasn't." Sly explained.
"Well, how about we test the tool I'll really need to rely on?" Carmelita asked right before a strand of energy sliced through the area immediately to her left.
"Sounds like a lovely idea." The source of the strand said. The source was a being with a metal plate mask over his face, thick armor on his chest and shoulders, and heavy gauntlets and boots. Two a glowing whip emerged from under each arm. The creature under the armor was a yellow bird. And even with the new armor, they all knew who stood before them, Torigun. "I hope you don't mind me dropping in like this, and if you do, take it to your grave."
Author's Note: I'm not going to make excuses, my mind fried from too much at once and this chapter took FOREVER just to get a thought for.
